Posted on 09/03/2002 11:50:02 AM PDT by VadeRetro
Exclusive from New Scientist
A self-organising electronic circuit has stunned engineers by turning itself into a radio receiver.
What should have been an oscillator became a radio
This accidental reinvention of the radio followed an experiment to see if an automated design process, that uses an evolutionary computer program, could be used to "breed" an electronic circuit called an oscillator. An oscillator produces a repetitive electronic signal, usually in the form of a sine wave.
Paul Layzell and Jon Bird at the University of Sussex in Brighton applied the program to a simple arrangement of transistors and found that an oscillating output did indeed evolve.
But when they looked more closely they found that, despite producing an oscillating signal, the circuit itself was not actually an oscillator. Instead, it was behaving more like a radio receiver, picking up a signal from a nearby computer and delivering it as an output.
In essence, the evolving circuit had cheated, relaying oscillations generated elsewhere, rather than generating its own.
Gene mixing
Layzell and Bird were using the software to control the connections between 10 transistors plugged into a circuit board that was fitted with programmable switches. The switches made it possible to connect the transistors differently.
Treating each switch as analogous to a gene allowed new circuits to evolve. Those that oscillated best were allowed to survive to a next generation. These "fittest" candidates were then mated by mixing their genes together, or mutated by making random changes to them.
After several thousand generations you end up with a clear winner, says Layzell. But precisely why the winner was a radio still mystifies them.
To pick up a radio signal you need other elements such as an antenna. After exhaustive testing they found that a long track in the circuit board had functioned as the antenna. But how the circuit "figured out" that this would work is not known.
"There's probably one sudden key mutation that enabled radio frequencies to be picked up," says Bird.
Duncan Graham-Rowe
Let's see, for the THIRD TIME, I call your attention to the fact that my original comments did not refer to the Theory of Evolution. Perhaps you are confusing my post with something you received via the fillings in your teeth....
That is an important point that needs to be made about the people who are constantly insulting all Christians and calling them fools.
My original post called no one a "fool," and I have made no comment during this entire dialogue with you regarding Christians or any other religious group. Perhaps you are confusing my posts with something you received via the fillings in your teeth....
Fact is that even metal teeth can pick up radio signals as Andrew reminded you folk.
Well, that certainly would explain where you keep getting these strange ideas that were not in my post..... is this also where you got your ideas that "a circle is not an ellipse", "the planets wiz around the solar system in "wildly elliptical" orbits, and that "1720" is a really, really, really big number?
That you and your friends so desperately cling to something as stupid as this as proof of your stupid theory shows quite well how desperate and how ignorant evolutionists are. As I have said before, I need to say it again:
EVOLUTION IS PSEUDOSCIENCE FOR IDIOTS
This is an excellent example of precisely the sort of factually vacuous vitriol that we've come to expect from people who think that "a circle is not an ellipse", "the planets wiz around the solar system in "wildly elliptical" orbits, and that "1720" is a really, really, really big number.
I thank you for making it abundantly clear you have no interest in discussing the either the experiment described in the article, or the implications that I stated in my original comment, to wit: that random variation of the circuit configuration while preferentially selecting those configurations that produced the most oscillator-like outputs and then iterating the process gave rise to an unexpected solution, a crude radio receiving circuit, which would not have been the result of a normal directed design process seeking a circuit with oscillator output.
Perhaps your next response will delve into additional areas that are significant to you: a diatribe about the evils of flouridation and the sanctity of your precious bodily fluids would probably be right up your alley.
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The block diagram will provide you with a better understanding of this receiver. In general, the FRG-7 is a tripple conversion super heterodyne receiver utilizing synthesized local oscillator for both the first and second mixers for drift free VFO operation. The signal from the antenna is fed through the attenuator to the gate of the FET RF amplifier Q101, 3SK40. The amplified signal is fed through a low pass filter (cut off frequency 35 MHz) to the first balanced mixer consisting of Q102 and Q103, 2SK19, where the incoming signal is mixed with a signal from the heterodyne oscillator. The first heterodyne oscillator Q201 2SC784, oscillates the signal which varies between 55.5 and 84.5 MHz. The product of the first mixer becomes the first IF signal of 54.5 through 55.5 MHz. The first IF signal is amplified by the first IF passband ampli fier Q104 and fed to the gate of the second mixer Q105, 2SK19CR, where the first IF signal is mixed with 52.5 MHz signal. The second mixer converts the first IF signal into the second IF signal of 2.0 through 3.0 MHz. Synthesizer oscillator Q301 2SC372, oscillates crystal controlled 1 MHz signal. The 1 MHz signal is then fed to the harmonic generator D301 and D302, 1N60, which produces 3 to 32 MHz harmonics from the 1 MHz crystal controlled signal. The harmonic signal is fed to the dual balanced pre-mixer Q106, SN76514, where the harmonics are mixed with the signal from the first heterodyne oscillator Q201. The output signal from the pre-mixer passes through the selective amplifier Q107, Q108 and Q109, 2SC784, which eliminates other signals except the 52.5 MHz second heterodyne signal. A part of the output from the selective amplifier is rectified by the detectors D1 and D2 , 1S1555, and the DC output voltage is amplified by the DC amplifier Q110, 2SC372, and then fed to the LOCK lamp driver Q111, 2SC372, which turns the LOCK lamp on when the synthesizer is unlocked. The output signal from the first IF amplifier Q104 is fed to the second mixer Q105, 2SK 19, where the |
incoming signal is mixed with the 52.5 Mhz signal from the selective amplifier. The output of the second mixer becomes second IF signal of 2.0 through 3.0 MHz. The 2.0 to 3.0 MHz IF signal is then amplified by the second IF amplifier Q401 3SK40, and then fed to the third mixer Q4o2 2SK19. The third mixer converts the second IF signal into 455 kHz third IF signal. The VFO (main tuning) signal, which varies between 2,455 kHz and 3,455 kHz, is generated by the variable frequency oscillator Q403, 2SC372. and supplied to the third mixer through the buffer amplifier Q404, 2SK19. The 455 kHz IF signal from the third mixer is fed to the ceramic filter which is tuned to 455 kHz and has ±3 kHz passband response to eliminate interference. The signal is then amplified by the third amplifier Q405 and Q406, 2SC372, and fed to the appropriate detector. The AM signal is detected by balanced diode detector D402, 1N6OAM. The balanced demodulator D403 through D406, IN6OAM, is used for the detection of SSB and CW signals. The carrier signal for SSB and the beat frequency signal for CW which is generated by the BFO oscillator Q408, 2SK19, are fed to the balanced demodulator through buffer amplifier, Q409 , 2SC372. The MODE switch shifts the BFO frequency 3 kHz lower than LSB position for USB and CW signal reception. A part of the output from the last IF amplifier Q406 is fed to the AGC (Automatic Gain Control) rectifier D401 , 1N60. The rectified AGC voltage is then amplified by the AGC amplifier Q407, 2SC372, and fed to the Q101, Q401 and Q405 to control the gain of these stages automatically when the incoming signal strength is varied. Thus the receiver audio output is not effected by the varia tion of the input signal strength which may be caused by phasing. The S-meter is placed in the emitter circuit of Q407in which the emitter current changes in accordance with the incoming signal strength. The detected audio output is fed through the MODE switch and the VOLUME control potentiometer VR1 to the audio amplifier integrated circuit |
Why not simply claim that a wet bird never flies at night; and therefore evolution is true...
LOL !
BUMP
Thanks - nice image. I didn't see a vambrace in the pictures, but I'm sure Mongol archers either used one or walked around with no skin on one of their wrists. (One way to tell if you're dealing with an experienced archer - look for the "permanent" red mark on either arm).
Note the nature of the experiment that was set up. It was an evolutionary competition. The winner evolved a different, less prosaic strategy. A "cheating" strategy.
The people who claim it means nothing when this happens will in other contexts claim that there are conservation laws for information and nothing like this can ever happen.
How to turn oscillators into HDTVs by N. Umbskull
Algorithms to turn your toys into appliances by I.M. Dumb
Proper oils to turn match box toys into real vehicles by K.U. Believeit
Work at home turning milk bottles into Microchips by U. Fool
How to evolve junk into a 747 by R.U. Crazy
From these evo threads it is crystal clear this should read, rather: "... almost nothing to say on theological matters, except to loudly chant over and over 'God is not needed!'"
A God that isn't needed might as well be no God at all.
Ooooo! Such biting sarcasm; I don't know if I can bear up under the sheer brute force of your juvenile juggernaut. It is odd, though; the authors you cite, IIRC, typically write for a Creationist audience.
But I can appreciate the fact that you were confused; after all, what else could we expect from someone who thinks "a circle is not an ellipse," the planets are zooming about the solar system in "wildly elliptical" orbits, and "1720" is a really, really, really big number.
I also take your petty and childish outburst as further evidence that you never had any interest in discussing either the original article or anything I wrote about it. This suggests that your motive for posting on this thread was to disrupt it, not discuss it.
It happens, it is scientifically proven, and you can use the process as an algorithim to find optimal solutions to design problems for machines. The physical machine isn't morphed, just the parameters that define it.
This takes nothing away from God or Creation. Darwin was right until he decided it all happend by chance.
Evolution is science fiction...cheap carnival tricks/rides/thrills/freak shows---hucksters!
‘But I say to all of you: In the future, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty One.’ (Matthew 26:64)
"If the universe is moral, (and the fact that such a person as Christ existed, is strong evidence that it is), then what Jesus said about himself and the future, must come true. If morality has an infinite source, and backing, then the moral excellence of Christ will ultimately... triumph---over evil."
"I know some very agreeable people. I know some that I would call gentle giants. But their easygoing spirit is never a threat to greed and corruption. Kindness, patience, understanding, and love are not better than envy and bitterness, if they only ever exist as counterweights to their opposites. A good man who is content to coexist forever with badness, and wrong, cannot be a good man in any absolute sense."
"The goodness of Jesus is surpassing because he not only sorrowed over sin, and was outraged by it, he set himself against it, and warned his enemies that by suffering for it, he would rise above it, and eliminate it."
"If our universe is a moral one, then Jesus' values can never be viewed in any offhand way. Rather, he must be seen as a hazard to every act, motive, system, institution, or law, that is not in sympathy with him. A question that governments and their constituents ought to ask is: Are we making laws; invoking policies that clash with Christ and the direction of his Spirit? If so we are building badly. The universe itself will not back us. The future belongs to Christ-and to all who follow him."
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Science/reality is ANTI-possibilty/FANTASY(infinite/irrational)...
Science has to be OBJECTIVE predictable-probable-facts-LOGIC(finite/rational)---
Science must limit itself from the political-ego/subjective lower CARNAL animal world!
Science is law/design---CREATION!
Evolution is manmade myth/legend---FICTION/fantasy/denial!
I'm really not interested in these grade school theatrics---'science' projects...'show and tell' junk scams!
If you believe in fairy tales long and hard enough...you will see them---live/teach them too!
629 posted on 8/29/02 9:05 PM Pacific by Phaedrus
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Western (social)Science began as an effort to discern, understand and quantify God's design(laws/Truth). I would further say that we(some haven't) have learned much(anything) from this effort.
629 posted on 8/29/02 9:05 PM Pacific by Phaedrus(my additions)
Evolution is arrested--reversed--retarded development!
ps...want me to analyze 'cargo cult(magic)' for you?
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