Keyboards, Codes and the Search for Optimality

from American Scientist by Robert L. Dorit

In biology, as in technology, we should not confuse persistence with perfection

"A simplified, and ultimately misleading, account of the evolutionary process argues that natural selection inexorably leads to optimal adaptation. According to this perspective, organisms face challenges presented by the environment, and ultimately, through the agency of natural selection, find the best solutions. From this point of view, the living world—from the three-dimensional structure of enzymes to the drag-minimizing shape of porpoises—could thus be described as a compendium of these supposedly ideal adaptations..."

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