Quoting John Summerscales <[log in to unmask]>:
> The Deming Cycle (I teach Quality Management) suggests that point four
> should be
> Plan - Do - Study - Act (and continue around the circle) !
Withe a self-replicating machine this is the place where things get really
interesting, because this loop is a close analogy with evolution by natural
selection. Rather, it's even closer to artificial selection (pedigree dogs,
fancy pigeons etc) because the 'mutations' are all deliberate.
Of course different people will want different things, so here I expect the
project to diverge explosively as some people want to improve precision and
miniturisation, some want to make big stuff without much accuracy, some want to
add more working materials, and some want to work towards a more
consumer-friendly design (just to give a few examples). The result will be a
process rather like speciation (except for the fact that the concept of species
only makes sense if reproduction is sexual).
Yours
Adrian
http://staff.bath.ac.uk/ensab
|