Re: Re[2]: Misuse of term "Evolution"

Andrea Gallagher (drea@alumni.stanford.org)
Sun, 27 Jul 1997 23:05:45 -0700


At 02:06 AM 7/28/97 +0100, Guru George wrote:
>>Dou you suppose that "Social Engineering" or "Genetic Engineering" would be
>>more appropriate terms than Evolution from now on?
>>
>The trouble with 'engineering' is that, frankly, it sounds a bit boring;
>perhaps Social or Genetic Designing would be a bit more groovy?

This makes perfect sense to me. You see, my husband is just an engineer.
I, however, am a *designer*. :->

Ob relevant comment: The problem with the term engineering is that it
conveys a sense of controlling Victorian-style mechanical systems. Instead
of evolution dying out, I think that evolutionary characteristics are
becoming apparent in many other aspects of our world. Maybe genetic
evolution has been short-circuited by our control over our environment, but
memetic evolution has taken over. I think Anders is right, a general
theory of complexity would be a tremendous achievement.

Drea