Finches and Form Adaptation
Darwin began to get his ideas from observing the finches of the Galapagos Islands. Some finches had hard, short, strong beaks, well adapted to crushing seeds. Other finches had longer but weaker beaks that they inserted between cactus spines to eat the pulp. There were 14 species, all with small variations in morphology that made each suitable to differing conditions on different islands.
The capability of making small adjustments in form or structure in response to environmental change is structural adaptability. The changes are called adaptive morphology. This capability is a seldom-achieved goal of the most creative human designers. Let’s see what is right about Darwin’s concept. We will limit ourselves to provable science, excluding the many unsupported extrapolations of Darwin’s ideas.
An important industrial goal is to design systems with artificial intelligence. Design engineers would like to imitate the Darwinian mechanism. Once systems are sufficiently intelligent, designers hope that the systems themselves will make small variations in behavior or even structure to improve performance. Let’s consider, for example, where aerospace engineers are going with “robust design.”
The capability of making small adjustments in form or structure in response to environmental change is structural adaptability. The changes are called adaptive morphology. This capability is a seldom-achieved goal of the most creative human designers. Let’s see what is right about Darwin’s concept. We will limit ourselves to provable science, excluding the many unsupported extrapolations of Darwin’s ideas.
An important industrial goal is to design systems with artificial intelligence. Design engineers would like to imitate the Darwinian mechanism. Once systems are sufficiently intelligent, designers hope that the systems themselves will make small variations in behavior or even structure to improve performance. Let’s consider, for example, where aerospace engineers are going with “robust design.”
