undefined | Better HN

0 pointsthaumasiotes12y ago0 comments

No. Evolution is just a phenomenon, but its successful products, such as brains, have purposes. Eyes are there for seeing. They came about, in a sense, by coincidence, but they don't work by coincidence. There's no conceptual error in saying "a brain evolved to do X".

0 comments

TeMPOraL12y ago

Products do not have purposes. Eyes can be for seeing, but can also be for eating or throwing at things. Atoms don't have tiny XML tags describing the purpose of an object they're part of. It's the user who attributes purpose to a tool.

You can't say "brain evolved to do X", you can at best say "brain is well suited to do X".

thaumasiotesOP12y ago

You are trying to make it harder to communicate for no benefit. The distinction you're advocating is not useful, to anyone. But the idea "the purpose of eyes is seeing" is quite productive, and faultlessly grounded in reality.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

TeMPOraL12y ago

You can't say "brain evolved to do X", you can at best say "brain is well suited to do X".

thaumasiotesOP12y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse