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Isn't that why the 'systems design cycle' is called a cycle? Try it, fix
it, try it, fix it. Sounds like evolution to me.
Besides, with a name like 'Darwin', wouldn't you know I would monkey around
with some theory or another.. :-)
Darwin (Dar) Piatt
Sr. Business System Liaison
First of Omaha Merchant Processing
1-800-228-2443 ext. 1978
(402) 633-1978
Fax (402) 633-1897
dpiatt@foomp.com <mailto:dpiatt@foomp.com>
Adjunct Instructor
Computer and Office Technology
Metropolitan Community College
dpiatt@metropo.mccneb.edu <Mailto:dpiatt@metro.mccneb.edu>
-----Original Message-----
From: Champion, Mike
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 2:12 PM
To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Subject: [xml-dev] Is intelligence and design over-rated?
Let's welcome back XML-DEV to the land of the living with some flame
bait
only tangentially related to XML, but some of you might feel
strongly enough
about it to say something insightful.
http://kerneltrap.org/article.php?sid=398
"Linus Says: Linux Not Designed; It Never Was:
.
.
.
I'm deadly serious: we humans have _never_ been able to replicate
something more complicated than what we ourselves are, yet natural
selection did it without even thinking.
Don't underestimate the power of survival of the fittest.
And don't EVER make the mistake that you can design something better
than
what you get from ruthless massively parallel trial-and-error with a
feedback cycle. That's giving your intelligence _much_ too much
credit."
I just saw a similar assertion about the success of XML and the
internet in
a book ms. I'm reviewing, so I don't think it's totally off-topic
here: If
good software (and specifications?) evolves rather than being
designed, what
does that say for how we should go about our lives a) in our day
jobs and b)
in standards body meetings?
I had previously been struck by the notion that there's little wrong
with
the W3C that lowering the average IQ of the participants by a
standard
deviation or so wouldn't cure ... Maybe I'm just jealous of people
smarter
than I am... but I've always been partial to "ruthless massively
parallel
trial-and-error with a feedback cycle".
Thoughts?
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