Orgel's rule
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Orgel's rules are a set of axioms attributed to the evolutionary biologist Leslie Orgel.
[edit] Orgel's First Rule
"Whenever a spontaneous process is too slow or too inefficient a protein will evolve to speed it up or make it more efficient."
[edit] Orgel's Second Rule
"Evolution is cleverer than you are."
Orgel's Second Rule is intended as a rejoinder to the argument by lack of imagination. In general, this rule expresses the often experienced fact that "trial and error" strategies are better than centralized intelligent human planning.
Orgel's rule can also be used to counter creationist arguments in which often the hidden and non-provable presumption is suggested, that human intelligent planning is in general superior to trial and error strategies used by evolution.
The same principle has been applied to software developed by evolution by group collaboration, as opposed to software built to a pre-ordained design that was created without reference to previous implementation.
