While I understand the point the OP is trying to make, I think it's a tempest in a teapot, because the word "evolution" has a broader range of meanings than that indicated by the phrase "biological evolution."

Sure, in the context of modern biology, evolution means something very specific: population dynamics based on genetic inheritance with mutation and selection. But step outside of the field and the rules start to blur. For example, you can look at changes in languages as a type of cultural evolution, with populations, inheritance, mutation, and selection -- even though there's no physical "genetic material" being exchanged.

More generally, the word "evolution" still has a raft of meanings that predate modern biology. Miriam-Webster gives us a sense:

1: one of a set of prescribed movements
2 a: a process of change in a certain direction : UNFOLDING b: the action or an instance of forming and giving something off : EMISSION c (1) : a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state : GROWTH (2) : a process of gradual and relatively peaceful social, political, and economic advance d: something evolved
3: the process of working out or developing
4 a: the historical development of a biological group (as a race or species) : PHYLOGENY b: a theory that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations
5: the extraction of a mathematical root
6: a process in which the whole universe is a progression of interrelated phenomena

Given that we already have a term for software development that's specifically intended to echo biological evolution, "genetic programming" or "genetic algorithms," I don't see what we would gain from restricting the use of the word evolution in discussions of software development.

In reply to Re: (OT) Evolutionary Design?? by simonm
in thread (OT) Evolutionary Design?? by Anonymous Monk

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