Odd numbers
The accumulation of largely (but not entirely) redundant mecha-
nisms will lead, as a corollary, to the puzzling observation that
seemingly arbitrary patterns appear inordinately resistant to change.
This conclusion is somewhat different from the classical comment «if
it works, why fix it»? According to the latter, once the number of
fingers settled on five (for whatever reason, and more likely than not
without any reason), it has remained so ever since because there
was no pressing reason for it to change. My proposal differs from this
simple inertia in one important feature: the progressive accumulation
of developmental additions that are consistent with the original
pattern will make it ever more resistant to change, much like «plug-
ins» may add to the performance of a system but can never change
its basic structure, and indeed generally contribute to its stability.
Pushing the argument one step further, one can speculate that
it is only those processes that are highly robust, which can then be
modified to extraordinary extents without loosing their develop-