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Darwin's HalfBakery

Mutation!
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I was pondering the linked suggestion for a halfbakery spellcheck. A fairly prosaic notion. I thought: what would be better was a function which randomly, rarely, transposed, deleted or inserted new characters. If one made a typo or a spelling error, one could then always attribute this to the Halfbakery Spelling Function.

But to be really good, the function should occasionally delete or insert entire new words. Very rarely, entire sentences are duplicated, reversed end to beginning or transposed to new areas in the posting. From time to time, text from entirely different ideas or websites might be inserted.

This would now be analogous to the mutation at work in our own genome. As with DNA most of these changes would either be caught by the correction machinery (in this case the irate author) or lead to a nonviable idea. But just as with mutation, this process would occasionally lead to an idea which was faster, stronger, better than it was before. Plus the HB Darwin could still be blamed for occasional spelling mistakes.

bungston, Jun 06 2003

HB Spellchecker http://www.halfbake...ery_20Spell_20Check
yeah yeah yeah [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

(?) Boredombustier http://www.halfbake...idea/Boredombustier
[ldischler, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

[link]






       Yowch!
bungston, Jun 06 2003
  

       This idea is deadlines.
Worldgineer, Jun 06 2003
  

       ?
po, Jun 06 2003
  

       The darwin function must Home changed out one of my words.
Worldgineer, Jun 06 2003
  

       Maybe as a stand-alone site/script that rips ideas away from the real HB. [jutta] has a point, though, in that doing it without some attempt at intelligence would be boring.
phoenix, Jun 06 2003
  

       Mostly, I thought that the existence (or putative existence) of the darwin function would be easier and more fun than a real speelchecker. By the Tom Sawyer principle, it is not enough to be simply that: there must be a grander purpose if it is to be a worthy idea. Who better than Darwin to lend gravitas to an idea like this?
bungston, Jun 06 2003
  

       The theory d'évolution formalized by Charles Darwin, is like that qu'est-Theorie the force of gravitty theory or relativity theory. Contrary to the physics theories the biological theories were and particularly long and hard discussed l'évolution into that sociopolitiques Sanden. One n'enseigne step often aujourd'hui even, development in the primery schools. however l'évolution is the compelling strength of the whole biological research. C'est the d'unificationsthema. In paleontology l'évolution workers gives a powerful kind d'organiser the remainders of the past life of understanding and l'une history of the life better. L'histoire thoughts regarding the l'évolution generally the palaeontologischen contributions and are specifically the workers often useful d'aujourd'hui. The science such as n'importe, which repeating procedure, mobile support strongly its history. Indeed. Balloon linked with air gives way to French have elephants okay. So soar says. Like 'espin. Indeed. Jarmuth yeah yeah yea
ghillie, May 02 2004
  

       interesking bidea ungston@ I ekil
DesertFox, May 07 2004
  

       Never intuition that it courageous really mess exonerate people's ideas, solar real question is will demiglaze ether hideous soft?
schematics, May 07 2004
  

       //doing it without some attempt at intelligence would be boring.//   

       It would be boring, but it would also be just like evolution. Really boring most of the time, but when something worked, it would be really not boring. But the mechanism needs sex to really work well like evolution: parents(?) contributing part of their DNA(code)(?) to create a new idea, in some kind of predetermined form, so the end usually works (lives). ==(?)s above need analogies. I can't think of how it would work.
oxen crossing, May 11 2004
  

       So we are all decided we take two random HB ideas and mix them creating a hybrid mutant idea. (That sounds a lot better than "rndaom lteters all ixmed up" and the Spool Cheekier.)   

       We also need something to randomly drop in a word probably from the internet in some strange way.
PainOCommonSense, May 11 2004
  
      
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