Technologies Based on Evolution

Tony · 17th March 2011, 12:08 PM

I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out?

Safe-Keeper · 17th March 2011, 12:09 PM

Vaccines.

Dinwar · 17th March 2011, 12:11 PM

Farming. Check out the USSR's failed attempt at agriculture in an industrialized country based on some other theory. End result: Hundreds of thousands to millions dead.

Tony · 17th March 2011, 12:11 PM

How did knowledge of evolution aid in those areas?

Dinwar · 17th March 2011, 12:21 PM

The Soviet experiment shows that knowledge of evolution (which was the main difference between their farming and the United States' farming) allows farms to feed people. When the USSR attempted a different theory for farming their entire agricultural system collapsed.

randman · 17th March 2011, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by Dinwar

The Soviet experiment shows that knowledge of evolution (which was the main difference between their farming and the United States' farming) allows farms to feed people. When the USSR attempted a different theory for farming their entire agricultural system collapsed.

Maybe. I think it was more their collectivist, top-down statist model that was so disastrous. Killing millions of farmers off didn't help things either.

Tony · 17th March 2011, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by Dinwar

The Soviet experiment shows that knowledge of evolution (which was the main difference between their farming and the United States' farming) allows farms to feed people. When the USSR attempted a different theory for farming their entire agricultural system collapsed.

Ok. But how? How was knowledge of evolution put into practice to improve the US's farming techniques?

Tony · 17th March 2011, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by randman

Maybe. I think it was more their collectivist, top-down statist model that was so disastrous. Killing millions of farmers off didn't help things either.

This isn't a debate, please take this somewhere else. The purpose of this thread is to gather information.

Dinwar · 17th March 2011, 12:57 PM

If you want a detailed discussion you'll have to look that up. I don't have the book on hand for the reference, unfortunately. I DO know that it was caused by one fringe lunatic gaining political favor, but that's only why the ToE was abbandoned; for the actual practice you'll want details, and unfortunately I don't have them readily available.

D'rok · 17th March 2011, 01:04 PM

I believe Dinwar is referring to Lysenkoism, which is based in part on the failed evolutionary theory of Lamarckism.

Tony · 17th March 2011, 01:15 PM

Wikipedia has a small entry on the applications of evolution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_evolution

If scientists and educators want to increase the public's understanding and acceptance of evolution, I think explaining how evolution has impacted real world technologies is a good place to start. Right now, this area seems woefully under-promoted.

ehcks · 17th March 2011, 01:18 PM

Bananas.

Dinwar · 17th March 2011, 01:22 PM

D'rok is correct. I knew I'd recognize the name as soon as I saw it!

JoeTheJuggler · 17th March 2011, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by Tony

I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out?

All of bio-tech, since the central organizing principle of all of biology is evolution.

Denver · 17th March 2011, 01:24 PM

Computer Science and genetic algorithms.

Gawdzilla · 18th March 2011, 05:17 AM

The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata.

RossFW · 18th March 2011, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by Gawdzilla

The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata.

Dern- I was going to mention that one.

So ironic that the most right-wing, conservative packed industry, which is intrinsic to the US south, relies on knowledge of evolution....

quarky · 18th March 2011, 07:08 AM

Corn.

(and corno)

AvalonXQ · 18th March 2011, 07:11 AM

Originally Posted by Gawdzilla

The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata.

That... is remarkable. Could you link to a good, straightforward article that I could link people to explaining this fact?

AvalonXQ · 18th March 2011, 07:12 AM

Let's not forget how important evolution has been in inventing new means of political control.

Dave Rogers · 18th March 2011, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by Denver

Computer Science and genetic algorithms.

There's a list of genetic algorithm applications on Wikipedia that would make a good starting point for further study.

Dave

Dinwar · 18th March 2011, 08:05 AM

Here is a good discussion of one of the more common biostratigraphicly useful fossils, foraminifera (or frorams, after you've counted 10,000 of the bugs). It's very basic, but seems pretty good.

ETA: Scratch that last phrase. It's from the UCMP, which is one of the federally recognize fossil repositories for fossils in California. It's good.

John Jones · 18th March 2011, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by Dinwar

Farming. Check out the USSR's failed attempt at agriculture in an industrialized country based on some other theory. End result: Hundreds of thousands to millions dead.

Lysenkoism

ETA: D'rok beat me to it.

GregInAustin · 18th March 2011, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by Tony

I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out?

Have you looked at technological advances in breeding, such as animal husbandry, cloning, fertility drugs, etc.? The horse and dog racing industry? How about steroids and other performance enhancers? Even over the counter medication has improved greatly as our understanding of biological evolution has progressed.

Ocelot · 18th March 2011, 08:10 AM

There are two things in play. The observed fact of Evolution allows the dating of relative strata from fossils and has therefore been useful in in the geological science since long before Darwin. This is where prospecting comes in. Not just fossil fuels but this aspect of geology is brought to bear in mineral prospecting too. However the applications to oil are obvious - we're looking for the carboniferous and seeing where the oil or gas has gone from there. Coal likely as not stayed put.

Then there's the theory we have which explains this observed fact. The theory of evolution through natural selection.

This theory explains how designs can be refined through inheritance and mutation. Bolstered by mendelian genetics it makes astoundingly accurate predictions about the biological world and enables our in depth understanding of the tree of life. This bears many practical fruits in epidemiology especially where the short life cycles of parasitic organisms allows researchers to trace the source of infections.

Six bulgarian medical workers have this technology to thank for proving to the world that they are innocent of the charges laid against them by the Libyan government,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV_tri...shed_in_Nature

Without such definitive evidence would European governments have worked so hard to negotiate their release from their death sentences? Who knows.

Then there's the way that this process can produce and refine designs. Simulating this process has allowed us to use computers to generate efficient designs for a multitude of products.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic...roblem_domains

Quote:

Examples of problems solved by genetic algorithms include: mirrors designed to funnel sunlight to a solar collector, antennae designed to pick up radio signals in space, and walking methods for computer figures. Many of their solutions have been highly effective, unlike anything a human engineer would have produced, and inscrutable as to how they arrived at that solution.

Solar Collectors
Antennas
Walking Robot

This barely scratches the surface.

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA215.html

John Jones · 18th March 2011, 08:14 AM

Lysenkoism, from what I recall was Lamarckism-based and appealed to Joe Stalin's idea of creating a 'New Soviet Man", wherein soviet ideals and characteristics would be inherited by the offspring of properly educated soviet citizens.

It was adopted as soviet dogma, and led to the soviet system falling decades behind the west in biology, genetics, and fieldsl dependent on them like agriculture and animal husbandry.

AlBell · 18th March 2011, 08:24 AM

Offtopic; sorry.

Originally Posted by AvalonXQ

Originally Posted by Gawdzilla

The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata.

That... is remarkable. Could you link to a good, straightforward article that I could link people to explaining this fact?

I suspect, no. The statement isn't true. Fossils are used to determine geologic age and/or depostional environment, and assist structural and stratigraphic interpretations of the subsurface strata. They are not directly associated with traps that are capable of producing oil or gas.

Dinwar · 18th March 2011, 09:00 AM

AlBell's statement is true, but it's also true that oil companies use biostratigraphy to determine the nature of the sediment they're in extensively. They're why we have as good a record of microfossils as we do--oil companies have money, which is something academic institutions lack. And biostrat with microfossils is VERY time-consuming.

KingMerv00 · 18th March 2011, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by AvalonXQ

Let's not forget how important evolution has been in inventing new means of political control.

(Link doesn't work btw.)

Ocelot · 18th March 2011, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by AlBell

Offtopic; sorry.

I suspect, no. The statement isn't true. Fossils are used to determine geologic age and/or depostional environment, and assist structural and stratigraphic interpretations of the subsurface strata. They are not directly associated with traps that are capable of producing oil or gas.

And yet as linked earlier
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Wetmore.html
and also from the same site http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/ONeill.html it's clear that oil exploration is aided by paleontologists who rely on the observed facts of evolution to date strata.

Ocelot · 18th March 2011, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by KingMerv00

(Link doesn't work btw.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nPLXHqOngw
FIFY

Lukraak_Sisser · 18th March 2011, 09:57 AM

All current reseach in biotechnology and most research into medicine is based upon evolution.

Better painkillers?
Anti cancer drugs?
Alzheimer, parkinson research?
Drugs to help you quit smoking?
Insuline production?

All products of and made possible by applying the theory of evolution, which enables us to look into what things do in other organisms and extrapolate it towards humans, without having to perform nazi-like experiments ON humans to see the results.

AlBell · 18th March 2011, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by Ocelot

And yet as linked earlier
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Wetmore.html
and also from the same site http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/ONeill.html it's clear that oil exploration is aided by paleontologists who rely on the observed facts of evolution to date strata.

Why yes, that's what I said, mmmkay?

Joey McGee · 18th March 2011, 12:28 PM

The entire fields of evolutionary psychology and evolutionary medicine. The power, significance and potential of those two fields to improve well-being on earth dwarfs all other human endeavors. In my non-humble opinion.

ThunderChunky · 18th March 2011, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by Lukraak_Sisser

All current reseach in biotechnology and most research into medicine is based upon evolution.

Better painkillers?
Anti cancer drugs?
Alzheimer, parkinson research?
Drugs to help you quit smoking?
Insuline production?

All products of and made possible by applying the theory of evolution, which enables us to look into what things do in other organisms and extrapolate it towards humans, without having to perform nazi-like experiments ON humans to see the results.

All of that stuff is tested on humans, that's what clinical trials are for. Animals models are not that predictive, but they are useful for basic research.

Lukraak_Sisser · 18th March 2011, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by ThunderChunky

All of that stuff is tested on humans, that's what clinical trials are for. Animals models are not that predictive, but they are useful for basic research.

Yes, its tested on humans, but its developed based on data gathered from yeast and mice. Of all the materials designed 99% never make it to human trials as trials in other organisms show no or adverse effects. And we can only do that because we use the TOE to find the similarities between organisms.
Clinical trials are the very end of a years or decades long process.

If we could only test on humans because mice are created differently and therefore unrelated clinical trials would have fatality rates well above 80% and would cost hundreds of thousands of human subjects.

plindboe · 18th March 2011, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Tony

I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out?

SELEX is pretty cool-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systema...ial_Enrichment

ThunderChunky · 18th March 2011, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Lukraak_Sisser

Yes, its tested on humans, but its developed based on data gathered from yeast and mice. Of all the materials designed 99% never make it to human trials as trials in other organisms show no or adverse effects. And we can only do that because we use the TOE to find the similarities between organisms.
Clinical trials are the very end of a years or decades long process.

If we could only test on humans because mice are created differently and therefore unrelated clinical trials would have fatality rates well above 80% and would cost hundreds of thousands of human subjects.

They are tested on animal models, but those tests aren't predictive of the outcomes of the clinical trials.

randman · 19th March 2011, 12:25 AM

Originally Posted by Joey McGee

The entire fields of evolutionary psychology and evolutionary medicine. The power, significance and potential of those two fields to improve well-being on earth dwarfs all other human endeavors. In my non-humble opinion.

evolutionary psychology?....are you serious?

stilicho · 19th March 2011, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by Tony

I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out?

I think you mean natural selection and not evolution. Isn't practically all biology and its sister sciences such as medicine now firmly anchored in this revolutionary theory?

17th March 2011, 12:08 PM	#1
Tony Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 13,752	Technologies Based on Evolution I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out?
	__________________ It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. - Mark Twain

17th March 2011, 12:11 PM	#3
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	Farming. Check out the USSR's failed attempt at agriculture in an industrialized country based on some other theory. End result: Hundreds of thousands to millions dead.
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	__________________ GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde.

17th March 2011, 12:11 PM	#4
Tony Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 13,752	How did knowledge of evolution aid in those areas?
	__________________ It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. - Mark Twain

17th March 2011, 12:21 PM	#5
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	The Soviet experiment shows that knowledge of evolution (which was the main difference between their farming and the United States' farming) allows farms to feed people. When the USSR attempted a different theory for farming their entire agricultural system collapsed.
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	__________________ GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde.

17th March 2011, 12:28 PM	#6
randman Illuminator Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 3,677	Originally Posted by Dinwar The Soviet experiment shows that knowledge of evolution (which was the main difference between their farming and the United States' farming) allows farms to feed people. When the USSR attempted a different theory for farming their entire agricultural system collapsed. Maybe. I think it was more their collectivist, top-down statist model that was so disastrous. Killing millions of farmers off didn't help things either.
randman Illuminator Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 3,677

17th March 2011, 12:09 PM	#2
Safe-Keeper Philosopher Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sogndal, Norway Posts: 7,120	Vaccines.

17th March 2011, 12:55 PM	#7
Tony Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 13,752	Originally Posted by Dinwar The Soviet experiment shows that knowledge of evolution (which was the main difference between their farming and the United States' farming) allows farms to feed people. When the USSR attempted a different theory for farming their entire agricultural system collapsed. Ok. But how? How was knowledge of evolution put into practice to improve the US's farming techniques?
	__________________ It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. - Mark Twain

17th March 2011, 12:56 PM	#8
Tony Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 13,752	Originally Posted by randman Maybe. I think it was more their collectivist, top-down statist model that was so disastrous. Killing millions of farmers off didn't help things either. This isn't a debate, please take this somewhere else. The purpose of this thread is to gather information.
	__________________ It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. - Mark Twain

17th March 2011, 12:57 PM	#9
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	If you want a detailed discussion you'll have to look that up. I don't have the book on hand for the reference, unfortunately. I DO know that it was caused by one fringe lunatic gaining political favor, but that's only why the ToE was abbandoned; for the actual practice you'll want details, and unfortunately I don't have them readily available.
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	__________________ GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde.

17th March 2011, 01:04 PM	#10
D'rok Free Barbarian on The Land Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 6,233	I believe Dinwar is referring to Lysenkoism, which is based in part on the failed evolutionary theory of Lamarckism.
	__________________ "War exists within the continuum of politics, in which play is continuous, and no outcome is final, save for a global thermonuclear war, which might be." - Darth Rotor "Life, like a Saturday afternoon, finds its ruination in purpose." - MdC

17th March 2011, 01:15 PM	#11
Tony Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 13,752	Wikipedia has a small entry on the applications of evolution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_evolution If scientists and educators want to increase the public's understanding and acceptance of evolution, I think explaining how evolution has impacted real world technologies is a good place to start. Right now, this area seems woefully under-promoted.
	__________________ It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company. - Mark Twain

17th March 2011, 01:18 PM	#12
ehcks Graduate Poster Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 1,689	Bananas.
ehcks Graduate Poster Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 1,689

17th March 2011, 01:22 PM	#13
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	D'rok is correct. I knew I'd recognize the name as soon as I saw it!
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	__________________ GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde.

17th March 2011, 01:23 PM	#14
JoeTheJuggler Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: St. Louis Posts: 26,661	Originally Posted by Tony I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out? All of bio-tech, since the central organizing principle of all of biology is evolution.
	__________________ "That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way." —Ponder Stibbons

17th March 2011, 01:24 PM	#15
Denver Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Denver, Colorado Posts: 6,595	Computer Science and genetic algorithms.

18th March 2011, 05:17 AM	#16
Gawdzilla 121.92-meter mutant fire-breathing lizard-thingy Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Northern St. Louis County, Missouri. Posts: 13,349	The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata.
	__________________ World War II Diplomatic and Political Resources Hyperwar, WWII Military History Kido Butai did not transmit. 木戸舞台は、無線メッセージを送信しませんでした

18th March 2011, 07:00 AM	#17
RossFW Muse Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 843	Originally Posted by Gawdzilla The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata. Dern- I was going to mention that one. So ironic that the most right-wing, conservative packed industry, which is intrinsic to the US south, relies on knowledge of evolution....
RossFW Muse Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 843

18th March 2011, 07:08 AM	#18
quarky Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 20,454	Corn. (and corno)
quarky Banned Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 20,454

18th March 2011, 07:11 AM	#19
AvalonXQ Guest Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 11,853	Originally Posted by Gawdzilla The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata. That... is remarkable. Could you link to a good, straightforward article that I could link people to explaining this fact?
AvalonXQ Guest Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 11,853

18th March 2011, 07:12 AM	#20
AvalonXQ Guest Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 11,853	Let's not forget how important evolution has been in inventing new means of political control.
AvalonXQ Guest Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 11,853	Last edited by AvalonXQ; 18th March 2011 at 07:14 AM.

18th March 2011, 07:18 AM	#21
Dave Rogers Bandaged ice that stampedes inexpensively through a scribbled morning waving necessary ankles Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: In a world lit only by fire. Posts: 17,894	Originally Posted by Denver Computer Science and genetic algorithms. There's a list of genetic algorithm applications on Wikipedia that would make a good starting point for further study. Dave
	__________________ "We will punish the murderer together. Our punishment will be more generosity, more tolerance and more democracy." - Fabian Stang, Mayor of Oslo SSKCAS, covert member

18th March 2011, 08:05 AM	#22
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	Here is a good discussion of one of the more common biostratigraphicly useful fossils, foraminifera (or frorams, after you've counted 10,000 of the bugs). It's very basic, but seems pretty good. ETA: Scratch that last phrase. It's from the UCMP, which is one of the federally recognize fossil repositories for fossils in California. It's good.
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	__________________ GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde. Last edited by Dinwar; 18th March 2011 at 08:06 AM.

18th March 2011, 08:06 AM	#23
John Jones Illuminator Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3,704	Originally Posted by Dinwar Farming. Check out the USSR's failed attempt at agriculture in an industrialized country based on some other theory. End result: Hundreds of thousands to millions dead. Lysenkoism ETA: D'rok beat me to it.
John Jones Illuminator Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3,704	Last edited by John Jones; 18th March 2011 at 08:07 AM.

18th March 2011, 08:10 AM	#24
GregInAustin Scholar Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 90	Originally Posted by Tony I've been trying to find technologies that have been developed or improved based on knowledge gained through research into evolution, but they have (surprisingly) hard to find on the web. Can anyone help me out? Have you looked at technological advances in breeding, such as animal husbandry, cloning, fertility drugs, etc.? The horse and dog racing industry? How about steroids and other performance enhancers? Even over the counter medication has improved greatly as our understanding of biological evolution has progressed.
GregInAustin Scholar Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 90

18th March 2011, 08:10 AM	#25
Ocelot Illuminator Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London Posts: 3,016	There are two things in play. The observed fact of Evolution allows the dating of relative strata from fossils and has therefore been useful in in the geological science since long before Darwin. This is where prospecting comes in. Not just fossil fuels but this aspect of geology is brought to bear in mineral prospecting too. However the applications to oil are obvious - we're looking for the carboniferous and seeing where the oil or gas has gone from there. Coal likely as not stayed put. Then there's the theory we have which explains this observed fact. The theory of evolution through natural selection. This theory explains how designs can be refined through inheritance and mutation. Bolstered by mendelian genetics it makes astoundingly accurate predictions about the biological world and enables our in depth understanding of the tree of life. This bears many practical fruits in epidemiology especially where the short life cycles of parasitic organisms allows researchers to trace the source of infections. Six bulgarian medical workers have this technology to thank for proving to the world that they are innocent of the charges laid against them by the Libyan government, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV_tri...shed_in_Nature Without such definitive evidence would European governments have worked so hard to negotiate their release from their death sentences? Who knows. Then there's the way that this process can produce and refine designs. Simulating this process has allowed us to use computers to generate efficient designs for a multitude of products. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic...roblem_domains Quote: Examples of problems solved by genetic algorithms include: mirrors designed to funnel sunlight to a solar collector, antennae designed to pick up radio signals in space, and walking methods for computer figures. Many of their solutions have been highly effective, unlike anything a human engineer would have produced, and inscrutable as to how they arrived at that solution. Solar Collectors Antennas Walking Robot This barely scratches the surface. http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA215.html
	__________________ EDL = English Disco Lovers Last edited by Ocelot; 18th March 2011 at 08:11 AM.

18th March 2011, 08:14 AM	#26
John Jones Illuminator Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3,704	Lysenkoism, from what I recall was Lamarckism-based and appealed to Joe Stalin's idea of creating a 'New Soviet Man", wherein soviet ideals and characteristics would be inherited by the offspring of properly educated soviet citizens. It was adopted as soviet dogma, and led to the soviet system falling decades behind the west in biology, genetics, and fieldsl dependent on them like agriculture and animal husbandry.
John Jones Illuminator Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3,704	Last edited by John Jones; 18th March 2011 at 08:15 AM.

18th March 2011, 08:24 AM	#27
AlBell Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,481	Offtopic; sorry. Originally Posted by AvalonXQ Originally Posted by Gawdzilla The oil search companies rely on the fossils they find in cores to determine when they're close to oil-bearing strata. That... is remarkable. Could you link to a good, straightforward article that I could link people to explaining this fact? I suspect, no. The statement isn't true. Fossils are used to determine geologic age and/or depostional environment, and assist structural and stratigraphic interpretations of the subsurface strata. They are not directly associated with traps that are capable of producing oil or gas.
AlBell Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,481	Last edited by AlBell; 18th March 2011 at 08:25 AM.

18th March 2011, 09:00 AM	#28
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	AlBell's statement is true, but it's also true that oil companies use biostratigraphy to determine the nature of the sediment they're in extensively. They're why we have as good a record of microfossils as we do--oil companies have money, which is something academic institutions lack. And biostrat with microfossils is VERY time-consuming.
Dinwar Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 8,893	__________________ GENERATION 8: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment. Ein krieg ohne feinde.

18th March 2011, 09:13 AM	#29
KingMerv00 Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Philadelphia, PA...USA Posts: 14,482	Originally Posted by AvalonXQ Let's not forget how important evolution has been in inventing new means of political control. (Link doesn't work btw.)
	__________________ If man came from dust, why is there still dust?

18th March 2011, 09:35 AM	#30
Ocelot Illuminator Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London Posts: 3,016	Originally Posted by AlBell Offtopic; sorry. I suspect, no. The statement isn't true. Fossils are used to determine geologic age and/or depostional environment, and assist structural and stratigraphic interpretations of the subsurface strata. They are not directly associated with traps that are capable of producing oil or gas. And yet as linked earlier http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Wetmore.html and also from the same site http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/ONeill.html it's clear that oil exploration is aided by paleontologists who rely on the observed facts of evolution to date strata.
	__________________ EDL = English Disco Lovers

18th March 2011, 09:37 AM	#31
Ocelot Illuminator Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London Posts: 3,016	Originally Posted by KingMerv00 (Link doesn't work btw.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nPLXHqOngw FIFY
	__________________ EDL = English Disco Lovers

18th March 2011, 09:57 AM	#32
Lukraak_Sisser Graduate Poster Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 1,618	All current reseach in biotechnology and most research into medicine is based upon evolution. Better painkillers? Anti cancer drugs? Alzheimer, parkinson research? Drugs to help you quit smoking? Insuline production? All products of and made possible by applying the theory of evolution, which enables us to look into what things do in other organisms and extrapolate it towards humans, without having to perform nazi-like experiments ON humans to see the results.

18th March 2011, 12:17 PM	#33
AlBell Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,481	Originally Posted by Ocelot And yet as linked earlier http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Wetmore.html and also from the same site http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/ONeill.html it's clear that oil exploration is aided by paleontologists who rely on the observed facts of evolution to date strata. Why yes, that's what I said, mmmkay?
AlBell Philosopher Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5,481

18th March 2011, 12:28 PM	#34
Joey McGee Transcendental Naturalist Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 3,105	The entire fields of evolutionary psychology and evolutionary medicine. The power, significance and potential of those two fields to improve well-being on earth dwarfs all other human endeavors. In my non-humble opinion.

18th March 2011, 12:29 PM	#35
ThunderChunky Muse Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 981	Originally Posted by Lukraak_Sisser All current reseach in biotechnology and most research into medicine is based upon evolution. Better painkillers? Anti cancer drugs? Alzheimer, parkinson research? Drugs to help you quit smoking? Insuline production? All products of and made possible by applying the theory of evolution, which enables us to look into what things do in other organisms and extrapolate it towards humans, without having to perform nazi-like experiments ON humans to see the results. All of that stuff is tested on humans, that's what clinical trials are for. Animals models are not that predictive, but they are useful for basic research.
ThunderChunky Muse Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 981