Hummingbirds and Evolution.

[swestrup]

_sps_ sent me a pointer to this article on how hummingbirds fly. While interesting in its own right, the part that made it worth alerting me to, was the last paragraph:

"The one big caveat is that an engineer can start from scratch - biological evolution doesn't ever start anew. It's encumbered with the trappings of one's ancestry." -- Dr. Douglas Warrick, of Oregon State University.

It is surprising how few folks, even in the Biological sciences seem to understand how basic a principal that is to understanding and analyzing life on this world, or on another. Its actually very refreshing to find someone who has that clue.

Comments

[swestrup]

I think he was asking what you expected the next level of metaprogramming to consist of, not whether Penrose had a clue.

[sps.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know it. But since I can't provide an answer that builds on Penrose... and it seems to be assumed that I ought... what can I say?

Not that I have an answer anyway. I just have no estimate of how far the human brain is from obsolescence, and that makes all the difference.