Natures wonders: wasps and zombie spiders (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, August 11, 2015, 14:21 (3390 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

Dhw: What's the same building block when the organisms, species, processes, chemicals, behaviours and results are all so different? “Some” preprogramming “may” have been done in the prototype wasp and the prototype spider. Aw shucks, come on, Tony, take the plunge. There is symbiosis between all kinds of organisms, animal and vegetable. Either it was all preprogrammed, God “stepped in”, or (theistic version) God gave these organisms the ability to work it out for themselves. Which of these three do you consider more likely? -TONY: The wasp isn't the only organism that uses this type of method, though. By that, I mean the turning another creature into a zombie and feeding off of it. Hence, common building blocks with different expressions. I use the word "may' not because I am afraid to take a lunge, but as a simple acknowledgement that we don't understand the process or the mechanism so a definitive statement is premature.-At least your answer denotes an open mind towards the question of whether organisms such as wasps have an autonomous intelligence of their own, which might be powerful enough to enable them to design their own homes and lifestyles. Who knows, it may even extend to innovation. If we understood the mechanisms, there would be no room for different hypotheses. The same applies to the origin of the universe, life and consciousness: my agnosticism is also “a simple acknowledgement that we don't understand the process or the mechanism so a definitive statement is premature.”