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(2013-02-03 16:58:14)
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[2013/01/28] Can Evolutionists Steal Biomimetics?
Can Evolutionists Steal Biomimetics?

Posted on January 28, 2013

For a science about designs in nature, some evolutionists seem eager to take credit for biomimetics.

Evolutionary Algorithm

¡°Evolution Inspires More Efficient Solar Cell Design,¡± blares an oxymoronic headline on Science News – contradictory, because inspiration is a spiritual term, and because efficiency and design are engineering terms not in the Darwin Dictionary. What could the article possibly mean?

Using a mathematical search algorithm based on natural evolution, the researchers pinpointed a specific geometrical pattern that is optimal for capturing and holding light in thin-cell organic solar cells.¡¦

The researchers employed a genetic algorithm, a search process that mimics the process of natural evolution, explained Wei Chen, Wilson-Cook Professor in Engineering Design and professor of mechanical engineering at McCormick and co-investigator of the research.

¡°Due to the highly nonlinear and irregular behavior of the system, you must use an intelligent approach to find the optimal solution,¡± Chen said. ¡°Our approach is based on the biologically evolutionary process of survival of the fittest.¡±

Only the most convoluted logic could link an ¡°intelligent approach¡± of ¡°engineering design¡± to ¡°survival of the fittest¡± in the ¡°biologically evolutionary¡± sense. Clearly this was an experiment in artificial selection: having a design goal, using an algorithm, and pinpointing a desired result.

Functional Information

In another example, Live Science began a story that could have been founded on intelligent design theory: ¡°Uncovering the Function of Fish Shapes.¡± Katherine Gammon¡¯s article states, for instance, that eels are ¡°designed for hiding away and sticking in holes.¡± She reported how Kara Feilich of Harvard ¡°decided to investigate the theory that the form of a fish¡¯s body yield [sic] information on its functioning.¡± Information – function – those fit well with ID theory.

But then evolutionary theory took over. Feilich¡¯s mentor Paul Webb described a fish¡¯s shape in terms of ¡°evolutionary strategy¡± (another oxymoron). Webb explained that ¡°when it comes to evolution, an animal doesn¡¯t have to be perfect – it just has to do a little better than its competition.¡± Next in the article, a museum curator who ¡°studies fish evolution¡± made a cameo appearance. Then came a very strange section mixing intelligent design, engineering, biomimetics and evolution:

Feilich said that even though she¡¯s more interested in the evolutionary ecology of fish, uncovering the secrets of fish motion can help engineers build better biomimetic robots underwater– and also in the sky.

¡°What applies to one fluid can apply to another,¡± Feilich said. ¡°Having different sciences draw from each other to answer evolutionary questions is really important. We couldn¡¯t do this without engineers.¡±

So while Gammon¡¯s article was primarily about biomimetics and engineering design, evolution made a prominent appearance of doubtful substance, leaving those ¡°evolutionary questions¡± vague and undefined. Most biomimetics news articles, like this one on spider silk from PhysOrg, don¡¯t even mention evolution.

It is said that a Senator is someone who finds which way the crowd is going, then runs up front and proclaims himself their leader. That¡¯s what Charlie D. is doing here, except a better label might be Sin-ator in In-Sin-uator. He¡¯s terrified that biomimetics is leaving his legacy in the trash heap of history, so he is trying to re-invent himself as the head honcho of engineering. If anyone can figure out what on earth a blind, unguided, purposeless process, whose only outcome is to one-up the competition, has anything to do with designs so efficient our best engineers desire to imitate them, please explain – provided you can list all the chance mutations from sterile laguna to Charlie Tuna. Otherwise, stop the smokescreen gimmicks like ¡°evolutionary algorithm¡± and ¡°evolutionary inspiration¡± that presume Evolution is some kind of intelligent goddess haunting the Engineering department. Charlie doesn¡¯t believe in spirits, he doesn¡¯t have the tools, and he can¡¯t order free lunches.



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