So we see that reuse of design also falls under another level of restriction, that of a nested hierarchy. Even humans do not restrict themselves to such a rigid pattern of design reuse. It would seem that the supposed designer is even more limited than humans.
That's part of it. We do not see good ideas like radio then implemented across the spectrum, in homes, cars, boats, planes, ipods, trains, space stations.
But the other issue is the oft raised one of Optimal.
What we see in living things is NOT optimal design, but rather "Just good enough" design. We do not see very many truly new pieces parts or functions show up, they are the exception rather than the rule. What we do see is incremental changes that seem to be without reason or purpose that are then tested by natural selection with a very simple pass/fail test. If the change keeps the critter from living long enough to reproduce, then that specific example of that change and critter is eliminated. It does not mean though that the very same change is not tried over and over again.
To some extent biology and very early human invention follow the same course.
Take the issue of keeping warm.
Being able to create a fire meant that humans could light the night, cook meat, warm the cave, keep predators away, create whole new food supplies like bread and beer.
The tribe that could do it had a distinct advantage over the tribe that could not. But the method for starting those fires was not necessarily the optimal one, it was the one that worked. It is far easier to start a fire with a flint spark then by rubbing stick together or finding a still burning tree that had been struck by lightening, but all three methods did work, and so all three methods were used.
Very soon though the human mind developed the idea of optimal and that is where "intelligent human design" differs from "biological design". In living things, changes are just made then filtered and it is only the really, really bad designs that get filtered out. The designs are kept as long as they are not so bad that they keep the critter from reproducing.
Humans though look at each design and ask "How can we make it better?" There really is a goal, a purpose to human designs that is not seen in living critters, the search for the optimal solution.
Human designs also get transferred across the spectrum. A good design in one model of one make of car is soon adopted by every model of ever make of car. A good design like radio that initially was meant as a way to transmit information from one fixed location to many stationary locations is then soon adopted by mobile as well as stationary location and eventually made two way so we can talk across the optimal spectrum, one to many, many to one, stationary to mobile, mobile to stationary, mobile to mobile, many to many, one to one.
When we look at Intelligently Designed things and Biologically Designed things we definitely see two different processes.
Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!
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