Why Reuse Design?

ID supporters often claim that "it makes sense that a designer would reuse a design that works". But why does it make sense? Why not start from scratch and build a whole new design each time?To get to the bottom of this conundrum I would like to ask the hoi polloi the following question: why do humans reuse designs?

Thread copied here from the Why Reuse Design? thread in the Proposed New Topics forum.

well it does make sense to reuse a design that works we humans do it all the time and we improve upon the design, although we dont put usless stuff that worked a few 1000 years ago in tents like rocks around the tents to hold them on the ground in our modern versions of tents houses, while in nature this happens often gills in human fetuses, the remains of a tail in humans ....Edited by frako, : No reason given.

I think it's partly because since the Industrial Revolution education has mostly been communal rather than individual and in-family and small schools. The larger our public schools get, the dumber the graduates are and the more they think alike. Communial education tends to program minds into assembly line thinking in fields like science, building, manufacture design and so forth.Why have we wasted the braking energy in automobiles, for example, for over a century? Why haven't we designed brakes so that going energy is generated each time the brakes are applied? The same goes with bicycles, etc.A long time ago our automobiles should have had lift up complete front shells over engines like our big trucks have so as to expose the complete engine for repair etc.

---

BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

you could be on to something here, im speculating on the fact that my country is small a population of 2 million as moste countries have problems whit to few schools we have too many in some places primary schools average 15 students per class, high schools average around 20, collages from 20-25 except lectures they go up to 300, but if you compare the relative low number of population and the achievements of the population it is quite high, there hasent been an Olympics in witch we dint get any medals petra majdič won brontze whit broken ribs and a punctured lung lol, in science we ain't to shaby either dr. Mateja Jamnik Bierman reserching ai, got lots of international awards, Dr. Lučka Kajfe Bogataj, dr. Lidija Andolek Jeras ..... some hybrids now use the energy created during braking to power up their batteries i agree i had problems in my former car a 1999 golf 4 sdi i couldent change the lights if they got fried unless i took out the battery, i think that its cause the engeniers that desighn the car arent mechanics they dont give a damm if its hard to fix cause they wont be fixsing it.

Hi frako, and welcome to the fray, if I haven't already. and BuzAs a designer, I agree that reuse of design is common - if it aint broke don't fix it + why spend time reinventing the wheel when you have one that works well enough for the design intent.Of course we are also looking for ways to improve on previous designs, increase efficiency, lower costs, etc. I went to a private school run by a university, where they trained teachers. We had class size ~30 and one main teacher with 2 student teachers per class. Consistently higher grades on state tests compared to public school. The problem is a storage medium that is compatible with the design. This works well with electrical vehicles (busses in Toronto 20 years ago were using electric brakes to recapture energy), but means you need batteries. Such design is not practical at this time for bicycles. There are two things operating against you here: first is the additional structure in the front ends of cars to provide more safety during crashes than before, second is that people buy cars based on style and appearance, rather than on maintainability -- because generally they do not do the maintenance either, they leave that to the mechanics.Enjoy.

---

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

---

Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)

well they did fix the problem later in the golf 5 model and the later golf 4 models, the problem is that designers arent also mechanics so they dont see a problem where there is one and then there is the european trend to make the cars roomier for the passengers while the car still is the same size so they take the space from the engine compartment. on the up side its fun to watch americans go "thers no way you can fit a V10 in that car"*pops the hood* "waaaaat!!!"

One of the things we observe in biological critters though is not reusing a design, but rather taking a part and using it for an entirely different function.We do NOT find good design ideas being reused, the human brain does not get replicated in all animals, the eagles vision replicated across all critters, the smaller red blood cells of the Vicuna that allows far more oxygen to be carried to the muscles.

---

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Yes, indeed! A hearty welcome, Frako. EvC welcomes some representation and imput from your country. Why should the apparatus need be electronic. How about a relatively large coiled steel spring (abe: /and or tortion bar) in the center region of the vehicle which winds some with application of brakes until the max is reached, energizing a release so as to unwind with subsequent acceleration, both conserving brakes and energy? No problem. Simlply improvise an aerodynamic steel crashbar around the engine compartment Additional mfg cost, likely a few hundred $$. Do the Buzsaw thing; Think out of the box. Edited by Buzsaw, : No reason given.

---

BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

Hi Buz, Don't Funny cars and race cars have such construction?God Bless,

---

"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

the problem would be that if you where going down a very long hill and use brakes insted of the motors own braking power (saves gas, and brakes) the coil or spring would eventualy block the rotation of the wheels and evan if this could be overcome there is still the question would the extra waight braught on by these presumably heavy coils actualy be of any benefit do to the more power needed by the cars motor to carry them around.if there was a sigificant benefit, and you could get around the first problem its really not a bad idea. that sort of thinking can get you a whole bunch of cash a kid made a double broom not long ago and as silly as it sounds the idea is being baught up by numerus companiesp.s.
thnx for the welcome

They do, necessarily to the extreme for extreme application. The conventional highway auto version could be simple, relatively light and tubular.Trust me. Mr. and Ms auto buyer would trade a little design for an open engine compartment.

---

BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

I forgot to add the default brake drum, enclosing the spring which would serve as a brake subsequent to the maxing out of the fully wound spring.The hypothetical model in my mind would, of course, need be engineered for application. When I was a young man, one of my things was to collect and restore used and antique spring wound clocks and watches. While working with the mainspring movements was when this idea first came to mind. I never was good at getting rich quick. Fortunes seem to slip through my fingers, like a house in Ca which I sold for $30,000 which became a $150,000 house in one year and eventually a $450,000 house; the same buyer from me still residing in it. Oh well, like the Bible says, having food and clothes, let us therewith be content.

---

BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.

haha i have the opposite problem whit my sawmill the mill and the land around it is worth about 1.5 million EUR i would sell it for a million EUR but no one whit that kind of cash is stupid enough to go in to the sawmill business i hope that changes when the economy builds up steam cause whit that kind of cash i could retire.ok i think iv gone a bit too far off topic so il try to come backsometimes humanety not only reuses a design but they also combine 2 designs or more together in the sawmilling buisnes there are 2 typical designs the "brenta" it has a saw blade like a drive belt and it runs on 2 wheels you put the trunk in the middle and you can cut it any way you want but it takes time cause you only cut once during the log passes trough and you have the "gater" design that has many blades at a fixed position inside you cut very fast since the whole log gets cut in one go but you cant chose diferent spacers betwean the blades the minute you see the log it takes time to change them.so what they did was take the the best of both worlds and combined it some sawmills have up to 12 "brenta"s in a row that can be ajustet to cut anything you desire at a moments notice and the whole log gets cut in one go.

So far, the responses have addressed the question of human reuse of design. The above opener in the OP, however, appears to hit on the ID supporters who advocate for intelligent design of all things, cosmological, biological and otherwise.The question which seems to be implicated in the above would be why the alleged ID designer who designed all things in the Universe reuses/replicates design. Some examples of ID replication would be the circular shape of global bodies in the cosmos, heart pumps in animals and mankind, universal forces such as gravity, male, female gender etc.IMO, replication of design by the designer is indicative of a single designer. Why do the majority of living organisms have male and female genders for reproduction? The logical answer is a common designer, whereas it would seem probable that natural mutations, especially in the primitive stages of alleged evolution would tend to alter, disrupt/deteriorate or loose reproduction via male/female functions, rather than to steadily cause it to advance into more complexity as it advances into the majority of organisms.If Taq considers this aspect of his OP off topic and so indicates, I will leave off on discussing this.

---

BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The immeasurable present eternally extends the infinite past and infinitely consumes the eternal future.