[FRIAM] Exaptations and the "Design" evolution of the Internet (was Re: The epiphenomenality relation)

Tue Nov 30 23:08:58 EST 2021

On the topic of bug vs. feature, the IP address limits of IPV4 were consistent with the now necessary proliferation of gateways and firewalls for security.   Sometimes limits are a good thing and reflect other kinds of social modularity?

On Nov 30, 2021, at 4:29 PM, Stephen Guerin <stephen.guerin at simtable.com> wrote:

Nick,

You may be interested in this recent short blog on exaptations and the design of the internet:
 https://subconscious.substack.com/p/exapt-existing-infrastructure

Note the Internet is more about protocol than any particular hardware/network instantiation and it has evolved on top of other communication networks designed for other functions.
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On Thu, Nov 25, 2021 at 11:39 PM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com<mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com>> wrote:
All, or any,

I have been wondering all week why none of you have sent me insults about the text below.  It appears that ONE of the reasons may be that I never sent it to you.  Well, now is your chance.

From the natural design perspective, design is a property of things, not of minds that make things.  The perspective asserts that a thing is experienced as designed when it is one of an array of things existing in an array of environments, such that there is a systematic relation between things and environments.  Against the background  of such systematic relations, it becomes possible to say that this particular thing is well-designed for this particular environment.  Over the years, we have used many different examples to illustrate this principle.  We can say, for instance, that a particular building is well designed as a studio because there exists an array of buildings, and array of functions they perform, and this building fits the pattern of buildings where artists reside and work.  Or we can say that this tool is designed for shaving wood because there is a tool kit of tools, and array of circumstances in which they are put to use, and that there is in general a relation between the form of the tool of the kit and the use to which it is put.  Or, we might say that the hefty bill of this Evening Grosbeak is designed for cracking seeds, because you see at your feeder birds with an array of beak sizes and shapes, an array of beak sizes, and there is a relation between the manner in which seeds are eaten and beak shapes

In several publications, we have taken on the project of recasting problematic concepts in psychology and biology as instances of natural design.   The goal has been, from the start, to sort out the describers of natural design from its explainers so as to better understand the structure of psychological and biological explanations.

Today we will take on epiphenomenality and its companion, exaptation.  We will argue for a definition of an epiphenomenon as a consequence of a structure’s (or behavior’s) design which has played no part the development of that structure (or behavior).  Further that such an epiphenomenal  consequence may be said to  exapted when it the structure shows evidence of design for the originally epiphenomenal consequence.  The concept of exaptation arose from  a publication by Lewontin and Gould (Stephen Jay Gould<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould>; Richard Lewontin<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lewontin> (1979), "The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme", Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, 205 (1161): 581–598, Bibcode<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)>:1979RSPSB.205..581G<https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979RSPSB.205..581G>, doi<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doi_(identifier)>:10.1098/rspb.1979.0086<https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspb.1979.0086>, PMID<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMID_(identifier)> 42062<https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42062>, S2CID<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)> 2129408<https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:2129408>)   The most unforgettable example of a biological exaptation is the hypertrophied clitoris or pseudo penis of the female spotted hyena.  Hyena groups are organized into matriarchal clans, headed by a dominant female Competition at the kill is ferocious and the most dominant female secures the most resources both for herself and for her offspring. In maintaining her dominance, she uses her hypertrophied cliteris as a display organs, leading to the obvious conclusion that the organs were adapted for display.   This conclusion turned out to be false,  The hypertrophy of the organ is in fact the epiphenomal consequence of a design for high levels of aggression in clan-leading females.  Such selection led in turn to selection for hyperproduction of testosterone-like substances in the blood of young females leading to the development of the hypertrophied clitoris.  That the organ became effective in display was an exaptation an played no part in its original development.

Yes, that animal actually exists.   They are large, they are ferocious, their jaws are incredibly powerful, and they would soon kill you as look at you.

Nick

Nick Thompson
ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com<mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com>
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

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