Evolutionary Algorithms for Food Science and Technology

Preface

This book, which focuses on the domain of food science, is an excellent occasion to consider various issues related to optimization. Optimality, in any domain, is an open question, raising various complex issues. Questioning the purpose of optimization, its ability to answer important real-life questions, is in essence an intellectual exercise: are we able to address the appropriate issues with the help of modern computational tools? Do we believe too much in computation? Are we able to address the right issues with the right tools?

These questions have been considered with the help of a philosopher, Nathalie Godefroid¹, and this preface is the result of our conversations on this vast subject.

The sources

The idea of optimization has its roots in what has been called “modernity” since 16th and 17th Centuries, based on a fundamental change in the perception of man within nature. During Antiquity and the Middle Ages nature was considered a “cosmos”, that is a big whole, symbolic, sacred, and respected hierarchy (each creature has its own position). “Modernity”, however, initiated a neutral standpoint, from which symbolics are progressively removed. The universe is infinite, without purpose, and nature is just a set of physical laws that can be understood and controlled, and therefore submitted to human needs and desires. Descartes’ project is to become “owner and master” of nature (Discours de la méthode, [DES 37]): managing and predicting natural phenomena becomes an ...