On Flounder Fish and Software

There are numerous occasions when one has to consider the lifetime of the software one is using or developing (or maintaining, that awful dark side of software). Fortunately or unfortunately, business considerations (budget, in other words) dictate what problems get solved and what's left ugly or forgotten, and how existing software gets repackaged into grotesque forms (isn't this is exactly how a Flounder evolved!). The parallels between software and biological evolution are obvious (and as you would expect, there is an academic area of study - Genetic Programming).

It seems we are we at the very beginning in the evolution of software. I assume, of course, that software is evolvable (I sure hope it is!). We may have yet to find the few amino acids from which we can build lasting structures inside our electronic soup. Or perhaps, we at a Cambrian explosion where the possibilities are being furiously examined. Are there 'laws' that determine what kind of software evolves and what goes extinct over the long term (decades, next century)? How does Culture, hardware influence what software gets written? Quite unpredictable really (at least it appears so to me). But, so thoroughly fascinating!