Natures wonders: insect migration (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, November 20, 2021, 19:40 (1097 days ago) @ dhw

QUOTE: Therefore, the behavior appears to be a combination of innate capabilities and pre-programmed learning. (DAVID’s bold)

dhw: Clearly the innate capabilities include learning a language and being able to process information, make calculations, and communicate the information to other members of the species – just like us humans. I don’t understand the expression “pre-programmed learning” unless it means that the baby honey bee learns what other honey bees have learnt before them – just as human babies do. Learning itself is a sign of intelligence.

DAVID: To me pre-preprogrammed learning means their brains come with a preset program which activates over one week, in which much of what is needed for interpretation is given and some rapid learning is allowed. Much like babies preset for language learning.

dhw: Thank you for accepting the comparison with human babies. Just as human babies eventually use their intelligence to go on learning and applying what they learn, I suggest that bees do the same, though on a much smaller scale and in a much shorter time.

DAVID: The waggle dances are complex, give much information to be automatically interpreted, so learning in one week is automaticity of implanted 'intelligence'.

dhw: The complexity is all the more indicative of intelligence, as the bee has a wide variety of information and movements to choose from. I have no idea why you have inserted “automatically” in front of “interpreted”. What is the difference between human interpretation of information and bee interpretation of information? “Implanted” intelligence means the intelligence is already present (source unknown), as it is in human babies, and I suggest that both bees and humans learn to use their own forms of perception, information-processing, communication and decision-making (= intelligence) as they mature. The only difference is the scale and the time span.

The waggle dance is complex giving direction and distance to be interpreted. How to interpret the dance must be quite a brief but concise program implanted in the larval bee brain which automatically becomes active at one week, as the article tells us. The baby bee can't use it until it understands it by watching dances repeatedly. In that time frame it must be automatic, just as a baby suckles automatically when discovering the breast nipple when offered to it. Any insertion will start suckling ( a finger tip).