I have an aphorism that progress comes via the three e’s: experimentation, evaluation, and evolution. It does not come via intelligent design.
Most new ideas are wrong. The key to progress is to test new ideas carefully, using a process that keeps the good ideas and rejects the bad ones.
Experimentation means trying many ideas.
Evaluation means measuring whether or not an idea worked.
Evolution means keeping the ideas that worked and rejecting the bad ones.
— Arnold King