Nick, You may be interested in this recent short blog on exaptations and the design of the internet: https://subconscious.substack.com/p/exapt-existing-infrastructure
Note the Internet is more about protocol than any particular hardware/network instantiation and it has evolved on top of other communication networks designed for other functions. _______________________________________________________________________ [email protected] <[email protected]> CEO, Simtable http://www.simtable.com 1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505 office: (505)995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828 twitter: @simtable z <http://zoom.com/j/5055775828>oom.simtable.com On Thu, Nov 25, 2021 at 11:39 PM <[email protected]> wrote: > All, or any, > > > > I have been wondering all week why none of you have sent me insults about > the text below. It appears that ONE of the reasons may be that I never > sent it to you. Well, now is your chance. > > > > From the natural design perspective, design is a property of things, not > of minds that make things. The perspective asserts that a thing is > experienced as designed when it is one of an array of things existing in an > array of environments, such that there is a systematic relation between > things and environments. Against the background of such systematic > relations, it becomes possible to say that this particular thing is > well-designed for this particular environment. Over the years, we have > used many different examples to illustrate this principle. We can say, for > instance, that a particular building is well designed as a studio because > there exists an array of buildings, and array of functions they perform, > and this building fits the pattern of buildings where artists reside and > work. Or we can say that this tool is designed for shaving wood because > there is a tool kit of tools, and array of circumstances in which they are > put to use, and that there is in general a relation between the form of the > tool of the kit and the use to which it is put. Or, we might say that the > hefty bill of this Evening Grosbeak is designed for cracking seeds, because > you see at your feeder birds with an array of beak sizes and shapes, an > array of beak sizes, and there is a relation between the manner in which > seeds are eaten and beak shapes > > > > In several publications, we have taken on the project of recasting > problematic concepts in psychology and biology as instances of natural > design. The goal has been, from the start, to sort out the describers of > natural design from its explainers so as to better understand the structure > of psychological and biological explanations. > > > > Today we will take on *epiphenomenality* and its companion, *exaptation*. > We will argue for a definition of an epiphenomenon as a consequence of a > structure’s (or behavior’s) design which has played no part the development > of that structure (or behavior). Further that such an epiphenomenal > consequence may be said to exapted when it the structure shows evidence of > design for the originally epiphenomenal consequence. The concept of > exaptation arose from a publication by Lewontin and Gould (Stephen Jay > Gould <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould>; Richard Lewontin > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lewontin> (1979), "The Spandrels > of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist > Programme", Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, 205 (1161): 581–598, Bibcode > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)>:1979RSPSB.205..581G > <https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979RSPSB.205..581G>, doi > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doi_(identifier)>:10.1098/rspb.1979.0086 > <https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspb.1979.0086>, PMID > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMID_(identifier)> 42062 > <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42062>, S2CID > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)> 2129408 > <https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:2129408>) The most > unforgettable example of a biological exaptation is the hypertrophied > clitoris or pseudo penis of the female spotted hyena. Hyena groups are > organized into matriarchal clans, headed by a dominant female Competition > at the kill is ferocious and the most dominant female secures the most > resources both for herself and for her offspring. In maintaining her > dominance, she uses her hypertrophied cliteris as a display organs, leading > to the obvious conclusion that the organs were adapted for display. This > conclusion turned out to be false, The hypertrophy of the organ is in fact > the epiphenomal consequence of a design for high levels of aggression in > clan-leading females. Such selection led in turn to selection for > hyperproduction of testosterone-like substances in the blood of young > females leading to the development of the hypertrophied clitoris. That the > organ became effective in display was an exaptation an played no part in > its original development. > > > > Yes, that animal actually exists. They are large, they are ferocious, > their jaws are incredibly powerful, and they would soon kill you as look at > you. > > > > Nick > > > > Nick Thompson > > [email protected] > > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ >
.-- .- -. - / .- -.-. - .. --- -. ..--.. / -.-. --- -. .--- ..- --. .- - . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn UTC-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
