"Evolution is smarter than you" is not meant literally. It's just a snappy way of expressing Orgel's profound insight that blind trial and error plus selection produces superior results over conscious, deliberate, intelligent design
torridon,
I don't think you understand my point. I was not talking about a God who actually sits down at a drawing board and designs the world.
Humans are intelligent...but even we cannot design any product perfectly all at one time. All our inventions evolve and develop over a period of time. And there is no perfect stage at all. It is a continuous process of development and change to suit different conditions.
There is a 'Selection' happening to these inventions also. They get modified and tailored to suit the terrain, environmental conditions and specific requirements.
Our breeding of animals and plants has a 'Selection' to suit specific requirements and environments. 'Artificial Selection' as Darwin called it.
However, all this 'Selection' will not happen without human intelligence and intervention! Products do not evolve and develop to suit specific conditions all by themselves. It is human Intelligence that makes this possible. Likewise with specialized hybrid animals and plants.
Similarly, what we call 'Natural Selection' has to have some kind of intervention to make all those 'Emergent Properties' possible. This is what I mean by Intelligence. It is inherent in Nature.
Cheers.
Sriram
PS: Check out my new thread on 'Intelligence in Evolution'.