[ravenstine]

The use of "response" seems like a misnomer. It implies that there's either an intention or mechanistic logic with a specific capability to adapt to change. At a high level, a change to a genome may be looked at as adaptive, but does a piece of metal bar stock respond to lathing if it takes a shape rather than breaking and flying off the chuck? I'm not too sure about that. Does the computer respond when given new code? More recent developments notwithstanding, it's more that the computer has a configuration and the programmer changes that configuration through the software. No `function respondToNewCode() { ... }` required.

I predict that readers of this will find this to be even more pedantic than the point you made. My reasoning is that while this terminology may not matter that much to those in the know, there's harm done to the public when science is communicated in a way that implies more than is actually there.