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> dhw: [i]May I once again ask if you now accept that &#147;inventive&#148; means &#147;creating new things and performing new actions without being programmed?&#148;[/i]-DAVID: [i]I do with guidelines. Semiautonomous means new things and new actions. Let us move on.[/i]-dhw: [i]Guidelines, yes (i.e. what the mechanism can and can&apos;t do in the given circumstances). Semiautonomous, no. &#147;Inventive&#148; = new things and new actions.[/i]-DAVID: [i]We are quibbling over a definition:[/i]http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/semi-autonomous [i]Evolution is a continuum and the guidelines fix some limits as contrasted to totally free inventiveness. Constrained invention is the way I look at it.[/i]-I asked if you accepted my definition of &#147;inventive&#148;, and you wrote that &#147;semiautonomous&#148; means new things and new actions! You have changed the subject and referred me to a definition of semiautonomous (= acting independently to some degree). However, let&apos;s deal with this point too. We have agreed that evolution is a continuum, and we have agreed that ALL inventiveness is subject to limitations - not even your bridge-builder can do what he cannot do, and if his bridge is to be successful, it has to cope with conditions that are beyond his control. There is nothing in this world that is totally free from such constraints and guidelines, and so according to you there is no such thing as autonomy.   None of this has anything to do with my original question, which was necessary in view of your earlier revised definition of the &#147;inventive&#148; mechanism as a &#147;[i]set of pre-programmed instructions for a new species[/i]&#148; (which of course took you straight back to your 3.7-billion-year all-inclusive computer programme). So let me repeat my question:   Do you agree that the word &#147;inventive&#148; in the term &#147;inventive mechanism&#148; means &#147;creating new things and performing new actions without being preprogrammed&#148;