Evolution

The unsuccessful-so-far attempt to create a human being. (Robert Anton Wilson?)

How we got here, so far. Do you really think we're done?

http://www.kurzweiltech.com/mevltn.htm

http://members.rogers.com/peter.turney/progress.html

See also Singularity, Robert Wright, Charles Darwin

The biggest of the Games To Play? The real goal of Progress?

The process of getting more people further up the Hierarchy Of Needs, toward greater Self Actualization (Self Improvement)?

Is an Open Society necessary to go further? Do we need a SmallWorld mentality to get to that?

Some techniques: Collaboration Ware, Structured Writing, EPrime/General Semantics, OHS/Node Web...

Bob Frankston wrote Jan'2005 (private group):

Evolution is a general world. Biological evolution is more specific term. I've said this stuff before but will make an attempt to do it in concise outline form.

My strong contention is that evolution is a simple digital process;

• You have a digital representations and

  • Stability by generating from base representations

  • Remixing and expressing according to local environment

  • A source of newness (mutations)

• You can't anticipate the future

  • If you can't handle the current environment you die

  • To survive each ecological niche must have a solution that works

  • By having enough variations already available some will survive

  • By having enough niches some will survive

  • Survival is success.

• If mutations

  • Are frequent enough to supply enough solutions

  • Few enough that what works can continue to work

  • Enough is the scale and the ratio is large

    • Genetic Algorithm-s provide variations among what likely works

    • At any scale

  • Things appear to be stable

  • Because the chaos below assures solutions are available

• Notes

  • Digital is fundamental to the universe

    • It has to be quantum for things to be things

    • We need discrete elements to have Chemistry, Physics

  • The future is intrinsically unknowable

    • Meaning changes

    • Adaptionism is a short term strategy but can't be long term

  • There is no need for Intelligent Design

    • If you don't think the current state is special

    • The process is very resilient (Resilience) provided you have scale so something survives

  • It is Fractal

This is the essence of an evolutionary process. It occurs in any digital system that can survive what fails and retain what works.

I can also describe this in terms of printed vs oral recipes. A particular instance is an expression and it depends on the context. Over time changes in the printed version correspond to the evolution of the recipe.

What is special about biological evolution other our desire to be at the center of the universe?

also Open Source UNIX-based PIM/GroupWare client. My paranoid side says that Ximian made a deal with Microsoft: help on the Mono Project in return for not porting Evolution to MsWindows.

http://www.ximian.com/products/ximian_evolution/

Has some Group Calendaring support.

In 2004 Ximian was aquired by Novell and they now sponsor (control?) Evolution - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novell_Evolution