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Why can’t evolution build in the ability of flight and what it needs to learn in the 10 seconds is not how to fly but which way to go?
by jahnu 3y ago
Why can’t evolution build in the ability of flight and what it needs to learn in the 10 seconds is not how to fly but which way to go?
- throwup238 3y agoInstinct and coordinated muscle memory are two very different things. Animals can evolve to develop that muscle memory faster (i.e. see how long it takes a calf to walk versus a human infant) but it still needs time to develop and that development requires active practice.
- amelius 3y agoA spider does not learn to make a web either. This is arguably more complicated than flying. And its brain is much smaller than a bird's.
- throwup238 3y agoA spider spinning web is an emergent behavior built up from a bunch of simpler ones like excretion, simple movement, and electrostatic hopping from point to point. A bird flying requires the coordination of a much larger number of muscles at the same time, which is much more complex from a nervous system perspective. Spiders reproduce much faster and have a much smaller survival rate so they're well selected for that kind of instinct. Birds less so.
- okamiueru 3y agoExcretion and simple movement from point to point, accurately describes most of my life.
- Cacti 3y agoI mean. I believe spiders eat lots of much smaller, flying creatures?
- thaumasiotes 3y agoIt can, obviously.
- Wowfunhappy 3y agoWell, but then the Fulmar "problem" doesn't seem like much of a problem to me. It doesn't learn. It's born with the knowledge, which was in turn "learned" (indirectly, through natural selection) by the fulmar's ancestors.
- itishappy 3y agoNow you've got a different problem! How are things born with knowledge? Where does that knowledge come from? Are humans?
- mech422 3y agoI actually wonder how animals like sea turtles or fish know what to eat...They are not raised or taught by their parents, so is it just trial and error? What stops them from eating poisonous stuff ?
- melagonster 3y agoI can offer a example of bird. seem like the toxic butterfly just let birds feel terrible, so they actually learning from trying different butterflies.
- mech422 3y agoHeh - that sounds like a really bad deal for the butterfly ?
- melagonster 3y agowarning colors work well. birds don't want to eat distasteful butterfly again. so even just looks like distasteful, butterfly still can enhance fitness. at least this is a good deal all butterfly have same color...