We also need to look at how computers and networks evolve. What new hypotheses about the evolutionary process, which after all underlies all of biology, can we formulate? In the information world there are survivals and extinctions. We read about these more on the front page and the economics page than on the science page, but these are in fact evolutionary processes occurring in real time.
We can see in computer systems the appearance and interaction of distinct genera - for example, the PC, the Macintosh, and the Unix machines are distinct genera. And there are even distinct species, so within the PC genus we have IBM and Dell and Compaq and Hewlett-Packard and so forth. On the network, we see viruses appearing, and we also see defensive immune systems evolving to recognize and neutralize or eliminate these viruses. Studying these processes may in fact tell us a lot about how biological systems have evolved.
The newest Internet development, of course, is the introduction of autonomous agents, such as applets and cookies. It will be very interesting to see what happens to these as they circulate around. Do they become parasites? Do they become new organisms? Do they create problems or open up opportunities, and do they lead to further diversification?
Seems evolutionary to me. But we've been doing this in our manufacturing areas for the last 20 years. What is non-scientific about it (or non-Darwinian as you call it)?
How about a microsoft w/o a Bill Gates---CHAOS(mutation/selection)!
Why should I posit an answer? Your reply exquisitely demonstrates my exact point in my post 433
You like the Darwininians consider anything, I repeat anything, outside of the Darwinian conception as non-science.
Computer's and networks do not 'evolve' by themselves, they are intelligently designed. Like all things done by intelligent beings they build upon what has been previously found to work. No one reinvents the wheel, no one reinvents binary computing. People build upon these previous systems and discoveries. So much so that the width of our present roads was originally defined by the width of road necessary to carry a Roman chariot. This intelligence at work, not some mystical 'evolution' advancing our scientific and practical knowledge. In fact, when claiming that such things have evolved, the evolutionists are really showing the religious, not scientific nature of their theory.