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To: js1138
Just for the record, it answers the question of where the "information" comes from. It does not need to come from precognition of cause and effect. mutation and selection are sufficient.

Wouldn't the ultimate source of the information be the fitness function the programmer added? The genetic algorithm is not going to converge on "Have a Nice Day" if the original fitness function says "Methinks it is like a weasel" is the optimal one....
63 posted on 02/10/2003 6:47:04 AM PST by NukeMan
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To: NukeMan
Wouldn't the ultimate source of the information be the fitness function the programmer added?

How is that different than saying selection is the source of the information -- other than semantics?

The key thing being addressed here is the claim made by IDers that the laws of probability prevent anything complex from arising through a random process.

The patent application for a new electronic circuit completely blows this away. This is not imitating something already done, like a phrase from Shakespeare. This is creating something new and useful, something that has never been seen on earth before, and something beyond the understanding of the team that programmed the computer.

This simple demonstration proves that mutation and selection combined can produce new information. Interestingly, the circuit doesn't work if you change or remove any of the components, so it meets a key criterion for being "irreducibly complex".

66 posted on 02/10/2003 7:27:55 AM PST by js1138
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