Greg Detre
26/4/01
Simpson � Professor of Entomology � why locusts swarm, nutrition
insects 1m neurons
problem of plasticity
v high behavioural sophistication
Nature � concept learning in honey bees
same principle of neurochemicals
homologous development genes
bee dance
first Hymenoptron (includes ants, bees, wasps)
eusociality � give up right to reproduce
females are diploid, males are haploid
so if share father, sisters are related to each other by more than own offspring
is communal living: environ adaptation
or consequence of asymmetry
convergent evolution � eusociality (consequence not cause of sex evolution)
Dewsbury straw man in ading in cultural to evolution
genesis����������� control����������� consequences������� = causes to survival val
relationship between mechanism + ST consequences
rat �looking for food� is missile �looking for place�
= conflating function with mechanism
heat-seeking missile = very simple � nowhere is the goal of looking for plane � but the function does match up with the intention
that intentionality??? is in me, but no in a missile, or probably in a bee � reserve judgement on anything < higher primate
sin of teleology � imputing purposiveness
confounding the mechanism with its function (goal-directed behaviour)
similar to anthropomorphism
folk psychology (being too adaptationist) � some things are just spinoffs
John Kennedy � anthropomorphism can be dangerous
chicks in the blue arena with blue rice grains develop search image
robot � ranging, local search, give up
much simpler than the chick having a search image (e.g. once I�ve found the book on his shelf the first time)
|
flies + sugar concentration undergrads + money |
behavioural outcomes might be achieved by different mechanisms indistinguishable to observable |
behaviour as organ = set of mechanisms
evolved to produce a particular consequence
behaviours evolve (like any other phenotype) according to the outcome of possessing the trait
fly dance on vertical surface in darkness, longer downwards (because drips downwards)
�/span> change light orientation
MS Dawkins article � over-emphasis on function + evolution
now, mechanism is much more central, because:
revolution in neuroscience, plasticity (Kandel)
functional ecologists realised they needed to know about mechanism
orders vs phyla
what�s the difference between an isomorphism (e.g. the mechanism and putative goal of a heat-seeking missile) and �real� intentionality???