[AndrewC]

but the Sims simulation effectively singled out a few of them and successfully showed they can be addressed quite effectively by genetic algorithms instead of a solution arrived at by direct design.

What was demonstrated was virtual. Real joints, with real motive elements requiring real energy sources and real raw materials occuring in a hostile environment was not demonstrated.

[freeper4u]

Andrew,

All that was shown in the Sims simulation was the question of whether or not it is possible for any kind of sensors, motors, and joints to be represented in a binary string, whether a sequence of binary operations on that string can improve the operations of those sensors, motors, and joints in a given environment for a given goal, and whether that binary string is sufficiently small enough that it does not rule out the possibility for a real DNA to represent the same information encoded by the simulation.

Even though that question is far different from the one of: "did real creatures evolve" and even "can real creatures evolve", it is still a very important question, and the result was positive, meaning that the next set of questions can be asked in the context of the hypothesis proved by this first experiment.

That is how science marches forward. It will never prove real creatures did evolve, but successive successful experiments show that it is more likely that evolution alone cannot be precluded as a possible explanation for the genesis of life on earth.