Posted: Apr 12, 2011 1:26 pm
Algorithms mimicking natural selection have yielded "designs" that have been used to build some bits of technology.
A possible future one: given the recent discovery of a link between tumors and the relationships between cells in a multicellular organism, future advances in oncology could come from lines of research which look at tumors as side effects of the evolution of multicellularity.
Shifting from science to society: it provides alternate explanations for physical and some cultural differences between peoples native to different regions of the world, thus debunking moralistic or otherwise judgemental explanations that have caused conflict between them or been used by one against another. It also helps our understanding of the kinds of mistakes our own minds can make without realizing it, which helps us develop ways to work around them, which makes us better at science research in general, technological development of all kinds, criminal justice, and social policy.
A possible future one: given the recent discovery of a link between tumors and the relationships between cells in a multicellular organism, future advances in oncology could come from lines of research which look at tumors as side effects of the evolution of multicellularity.
Shifting from science to society: it provides alternate explanations for physical and some cultural differences between peoples native to different regions of the world, thus debunking moralistic or otherwise judgemental explanations that have caused conflict between them or been used by one against another. It also helps our understanding of the kinds of mistakes our own minds can make without realizing it, which helps us develop ways to work around them, which makes us better at science research in general, technological development of all kinds, criminal justice, and social policy.