Re:Which Type of Exercise Is Best for the Brain?
by choosername on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @04:34PM
(#11121605)
I didn't downvote but I wouldn't be so sure either. Design as a figure of speach can mean a lot and, baring the discussion about determination and free will, creating and making can feel very passive. Intent is often open ended.
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Re:Which Type of Exercise Is Best for the Brain?
by SilasX on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @05:10PM
(#11121874)
I downvoted because it's tiring and pedantic to raise the objection every time someone says "designed for" in the context of biology. Yeah, we get it: evolution has no designer. It doesn't matter, because the semantic space is well understood. The figure of speech "designed for X" just means it's narrowly optimal at X -- it's good at X at the expense of being bad at not X.
Hence explanations like, "A cat's digestive system is designed for meat: it has enzymes Q and Z which are really good at breaking down flesh but also react poorly to plant matter." We get the point. We don't need a reminder that, "well, the scientific consensus is that the cat digestive system arose without an intelligent designer".
Re:Which Type of Exercise Is Best for the Brain?
by gertef on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @07:30PM
(#11122753)
That's a very good definition of "designed" that I hadn't seen before.
Re:Which Type of Exercise Is Best for the Brain?
by SilasX on Wednesday February 17, 2016 @07:38PM
(#11122790)
Thanks. I didn't mean to suggest it was a documented definition, so much as "the characteristic that makes it 'feel' like a human-designed thing" and makes us want to refer to it that way, even when knowing it wasn't.