KBCid wrote:A designer may well have arranged the systems in living organisms to adapt and in fact The ID community and I both see the evidence showing just such a system in play.
sandy_mcd wrote:Now maybe we are getting to something testable. What sort of designed adapting mechanisms are we talking about? How do they work and what changes can they handle? Is this the mainstream evolution with a different explanation? I.e., is it species evolution or just a range within a kind?
Adaptation (computer science)
The term “adaptation” in computer science refers to a process, in which
an interactive system (adaptive system) adapts its behaviour to individual users based on information acquired about its user(s) and its environment.
...it is impossible for developers to anticipate all possible requirements modifications. Thus, the dynamics of changing conditions shifts the customisation process of the system’s characteristics from the development phase to its usage and operation phase because the time needed for a professional development is too short or the new features are too costly.
For this reason, developers implement techniques of adaptation into the system in order to react to changing conditions as fast as possible.
Catalysts for adaptation
Changing conditions trigger the execution of an adaptation. Many characteristics might be taken into account as catalysts for such an adaptation process. They can be clustered into three main categories: inter-individual, intra-individual and environmental differences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation ... r_science)
MSU, other researchers continue change-adaptable software effort
To survive in a constantly changing environment, living creatures learn various techniques of adaptation. Wouldn't it be great if complex computer software systems could do the same?
With that goal in mind, Mississippi State engineer Bharat Soni is part of a national research team formed two years ago to develop such an "intelligent" system. Director of the university's Center for Computational Systems, he is among several MSU engineers, computer scientists and physicists working on the Adaptive Software Project.
"Our goal is to develop principles for building software systems that can adapt to changing conditions, not just to develop the adaptive systems," Soni said.
http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=1690
Cornell robot discovers itself and adapts to injury when it loses one of its limbs
Cornell researchers have built a robot that works out its own model of itself and can revise the model to adapt to injury. First, it teaches itself to walk. Then, when damaged, it teaches itself to limp.
The underlying algorithm, the researchers said, could be applied to much more complex machines and also could allow robots to adapt to changes in environment and repair themselves by replacing parts. The work also could have other applications in computing and could lead to better understanding of animal cognition. In a way, Bongard said, the robot is "conscious" on a primitive level, because it thinks to itself, "What would happen if I do this?"
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/nov ... ot.ws.html
There will be no resurecting the anti-watch arguement nor will there be a changing of the goal post for it either. Intelligent agents are working with most every aspect of replication and adaptation. It is now only a matter of time before the bottom up design of life will begin. Then how will you be able to tell the difference between the imaginary natural and designed?