Claim CF010:
Darwinians and Neo-Darwinians have long maintained that randomness, plus
long time spans, plus natural selection would (together) do the trick in
making specific codes and molecules. However, recent progress in
cybernetics has shown by simulation experiments that order sequences,
specificity and coding cannot be extracted from randomness on the basis of
the Darwinian postulates.
Source:
Wilder-Smith, A. E., 1970. The Creation of Life: a cybernetic approach
to evolution. Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw Publishers, pg. 116.
Response:
- The claim is unequivocally false. It was made in the early days of
computing, apparently on the basis of one failed simulation. Computer
simulations since have shown just the opposite of what Wilder-Smith
claimed. In fact, genetic algorithms, which use evolutionary
principles of mutation, recombination, and natural selection, are used
routinely in industry to solve complex problems (Heitkötter and
Beasley 2000; Koza et al. 2003). Artificial life simulating evolution
on a computer evolves complex features (Lenski et al. 2003).
Links:
National Science Foundation, 2003. Artificial life experiments show how
complex functions can evolve.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030508075843.htm
References:
Further Reading:
Elsberry, Wesley R. 1997, Enterprising science needs naturalism.
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/philosophy/faculty/koons/ntse/papers/Elsberry.html
Holland, J. H. 1975. Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. (technical)
created 2001-2-18, modified 2004-12-29
