Does evolution remove humanity from its special place in the cosmos? It couldbe said that the truth of evolution does not alter the fact that humans, unlikeother species, possess
. We have the ability to produce beautifulmusic, paint scenery, write poetry, and design artifacts. For most people, thecommon sense view of the human mind is that it is a source of
. In addition to its artistic abilities, it can use its creativity to
technological devices that serve specific purposes. There are many examplesof technology that has been designed to serve a specific function. Consider thewatch (a well worn, but effective example). People needed to tell the time sothey set about designing a timepiece. After many experiments and manydesign alterations our ancestors developed the first timepiece.In this paper, I will argue that the common sense view of the human mind iswrong. I will suggest that human creativity is a myth—or at best, an illusion.To begin, I will outline the theory of evolution and will show that it can beapplied to non-biological systems. I will then examine the so-called creativeprocess, and will attempt to discover the mechanisms involved in designingtechnological artifacts. My conclusion will be that technological artifacts are notthe result of creative thought—rather, the creative process can more accuratelybe described as the execution of an evolutionary algorithm.
1. What is Evolution?
Let's begin by running through the theory of evolution. The beauty of evolutionis its simplicity and its portability to a number of domains. Once youunderstand how the system works, you can see that it can be applied toseveral different fields of enquiry.Charles Darwin is thought to be one of the first people to theorize aboutevolutionary process. His ideas were published in his famous "On The Origin of
Evolution of Technology Brent Silby 2