Re: Nested Patterns in the biological world

Bill Hamilton (hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com)
Tue, 27 Feb 1996 13:07:18 -0500

At 12:56 PM 2/27/96 +0000, David J. Tyler wrote
:
>> DT>Kurt contrasts the lack of evolutionary explanations for the
>> >observations with that supplied by ID. By analogy with human
>> >creativity, a nested hierarchy is expected.....
>>
>> SJ: I am not sure that Kurt's argument is sound here. Humans almost
>> never create in a nested hierarchy of form. They classify things
>> after the event in a nested hierarchy (eg. a library) but books are
>> not written in in such a pattern. Books transpose topics, eg.
>> Theology - Philosophy - Science, and they have to be cross-
>> referenced in any library index.

Interesting point. I think "almost never" is an exaggeration. If you look
at products which have been around for a while and optimized for various
functions by a number of generations of designers, you'd find nested
hierarchies. Internal combustion engines might be a good example.


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