Natures wonders: plant dead bee scent attracts flies (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, October 08, 2016, 12:52 (2966 days ago) @ David Turell

David's comment (on dead bee scent): How did chance evolution make this work? I have no idea, but the arrangement is very complex. Without pollination this plant won't survive. Let's assume this fly was pollinating but not often enough. To make the scent the plant had to know the flies' preferences in meals. How did it learn that? Not trial and error as Darwin might suggest. Saltation.

dhw: Saltation does not explain how organisms learn! Learning entails sentience plus intelligence. Even trial and error entails intelligence, but the quicker the organism learns, the greater the intelligence. 

DAVID: Just how does a plant learn what an insect likes? Scent proteins are a special class, called esters, in a huge group of protein molecules in biochemistry. How does the plant know how to search for the right molecule? I have no answer except God. How much intelligence do you expect in plants without a brain?

Enough intelligence to learn from their experience and apply that knowledge to fashion a method of survival.

DAVID: Note my acceptance for animals learning involves them having a brain and the degree of complexity the new task involves.

I have noted many times your firm belief that only organisms with a brain are capable of learning and processing information and working out their own methods of survival - although some, like the weaverbird, still have to rely on God to teach them how to build their nests. I wonder how many biologists and botanists agree with you that every single mode of plant survival has also had to be planned by God.