Jim

This quote from Dawkins is actually quite a telling one.

In Darwin's "Origin of the Species" one phrase he uses often
is "Natura non facit saltum" (Nature never makes a jump). According
this paradigm evolution proceeds by minute changes. [Bear with me -
the slide rules are coming up next.]Stephen Gould proposed another
model called "punctuated equilibrium"; in this paradigm evolution is
a combination of sudden changes followed by periods with slow
development. Dawkin's has reservations about punctuated equilibrium.

Let us consider the evolution of the slide rule. The 16th and early
17th centuries were a period of rapid mathematical "climate" change;
decimal numbers had become widely used and logarithms had been
invented. Advances in astronomy had increased the need for arithmetic
calculations. Methods of calculation up to then were very crude. Then
came the slide rule. It was not a small evolutionary step from
earlier methods – it was a radical departure.

Over the first 50 or so years there was rapid evolution then the
development was more gradual. With the invention of the log-log scale
in 1814 the conceptual evolution of slides rules was almost complete.
Further evolution was largely, though not entirely, in response to
improvements in materials.

Moving on the demise of the slide rules. What brought them to an end
was electronic calculators. Again there was no evolution from slide
rules to calculators.

In short, the slide rule, used as an exemplar by Dawkins, fits
perfectly with the "punctuated equilibrium" model of evolution but
not with the more classic model he espouses.

Regards to all

Ron

--- In sliderule@y..., "jimcerny2" <cerny@a...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I thought some might be interested in this quotation from Richard
> Dawkins's 1995 book, "River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of
Life."
> Dawkins brings up the idea of reverse engineering as a way to try
and
> deduce why an animal has certain attributes or behaviors. Dawkins
> selects the slide rule to illustrate this:
>
> "The slide rule, talisman until recently of the honorable
> profession of engineer, is in the electronic age as obsolete as any
> Bronze Age relic. An archaeologist of the future, finding a slide
> rule and wondering about it, might note that it is handy for
drawing
> straight lines or for buttering bread. But to assume that either
of
> these was its original purpose violates the economy assumption. A
> mere straight-edge or butter knife would not have needed a sliding
> member in the middle of the rule. Moreover, if you examine the
> spacing of the graticules you find precise logarithmic scales, too
> meticulously disposed to be accidental. It would dawn on the
> archaeologist that, in an age before electronic calculators, this
> pattern would constitute an ingenious trick for rapid
multiplication
> and division. The mystery of the slide rule would be solved by
> reverse engineering, employing the assumption of intelligent and
> economical design."
> [p. 103]
>
> - Jim Cerny