Return-Path: <linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org>
Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand
	id <S281762AbRLBSnT>; Sun, 2 Dec 2001 13:43:19 -0500
Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org
	id <S281957AbRLBSnB>; Sun, 2 Dec 2001 13:43:01 -0500
Received: from dsl-213-023-038-056.arcor-ip.net ([213.23.38.56]:17160 "EHLO
	starship.berlin") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id <S281217AbRLBSmo>;
	Sun, 2 Dec 2001 13:42:44 -0500
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
From: Daniel Phillips <phillips@bonn-fries.net>
To: <mingo@elte.hu>, Rik van Riel <riel@conectiva.com.br>
Subject: Re: Coding style - a non-issue
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 19:41:26 +0100
X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.3.2]
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@transmeta.com>,
        Victor Yodaiken <yodaiken@fsmlabs.com>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@zip.com.au>, Larry McVoy <lm@bitmover.com>,
        Henning Schmiedehausen <hps@intermeta.de>,
        Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@mandrakesoft.com>,
        Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>, <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0112022102150.19739-100000@localhost.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0112022102150.19739-100000@localhost.localdomain>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Message-Id: <E16AbYM-00009p-00@starship.berlin>
Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org

On December 2, 2001 09:12 pm, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> On Sun, 2 Dec 2001, Rik van Riel wrote:
> > Also, natural selection tends to favour the best return/effort ratio,
> > not the best end result. [...]
> 
> there is no 'effort' involved in evolution. Nature does not select along
> the path we went. It's exactly this property why it took 5 billion years
> to get here, while Linux took just 10 years to be built from grounds up.
> The fact is that bacteria took pretty random paths for 2 billion years to
> get to the next level. That's alot of 'effort'.

One fact that is often missed by armchair evolutionists is that evolution is 
not random.  It's controlled by a mechanism (most obviously: gene shuffling) 
and the mechanism *itself* evolves.  That is why evolution speeds up over 
time.  There's a random element, yes, but it's not the principle element.

The fact that Linux has evolved from nothing to what it is in a mere 10 years 
- 30 if you count the 20 years of Unix that came before it - is due entirely 
to the fact that Nature has evolved a very efficient mechanism (us) to guide 
Linux's evolution.

> So *once* we have something that is better, it does not matter how long it 
> took to get there.

Sure, once you are better than the other guy you're going to eat his lunch.  
But time does matter: a critter that fails to get its evolutionary tail in 
gear before somebody eats its lunch isn't going to get a second chance.

--
Daniel
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/