The following is a short article I ran into at DesignParadigm.blogsome.com. We are continually asked: “Who is this Designer?” I suggest reading the article carefully and critically, having this question in mind. A conclusion that I draw from my reading is this: if biological life developed via evolutionary algorithms, then we shouldn’t be able to figure it out. Conversely, then, if we can figure it out (which we are doing more and more of each day), then we’re looking at something that was designed. In other words, if you want ‘alien’ code, then simply ‘evolve’ a computer program using evolutionary algorithms.
Many of the most interesting problems in computer science, nano-technology, and synthetic biology require the construction of complex systems. But how would we build a really complex system — such as a general artificial intelligence (AI) that exceeded human intelligence?
Designed systems offer predictability, efficiency, and control. Their subsystems are easily understood, which allows their reuse in different contexts. But designed systems also tend to break easily, and they have conquered only simple problems so far. Compare, for example, Microsoft code and biological code: Word is larger than the human genome.
By contrast, evolved systems demonstrate that simple, iterative algorithms, distributed over time and space, can accumulate design and create complexity that is robust, resilient, and well adapted to its environment. In fact, biological evolution provides the only “existence proof” that an algorithm can produce complexity transcending that of its antecedents. Biological evolution is so inspiring that engineers have mimicked its operations in areas such as genetic programming, artificial life, and the iterative training of neural networks.
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17089&ch=infotech