Evolution of Technology: Exposing the Myth of Creative Design By BRENT SILBY Department of Philosophy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Copyright © Brent Silby 2000 Evolution of Technology... Evolution in the biological world has been pretty much accepted. Those who once argued against it have settled down. Most people now accept that our existence is the result of an extremely long history of evolutionary process. This process is responsible for the diversity among species on this planet, and is also responsible for the development of conscious, creative human minds. In the past, evolutionary theories of biological life have been resisted for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is that it challenged our ancestor's view of themselves and humanity's place in the universe. If evolution is true, then it seems that we humans are not the result of purposive design—rather, we are the result of an inconceivably long history of inheritance of random change. In the past, many thought this view was unacceptable. Even today, some people find the view unpalatable and insist that the human species is the result of intelligent design. Despite the resistance, however, scientific discovery has given us good reason to suppose that evolution by natural selection takes place. Fossil records, DNA analyses, and experiments with short generational span bacteria are examples of empirical data that can best be explained by evolution in the biological world (see the Lenski Lab http://www.msu.edu/ ~lenski/ for experimental research on bacteria). Evolution of Technology Brent Silby 1