Introducing the brain: general: Part 11 reply (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, March 05, 2022, 16:40 (992 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Note design in preparation:
https://www.the-scientist.com/the-literature/termite-brains-anticipate-future-visual-ch...

QUOTE: "Dampwood termites with the potential to leave the colony have larger optic lobes before ever being exposed to different visual environments, an example of predictive brain plasticity."

dhw: [...] I would guess that the origin of this particular variation is that if new colonies were to be founded, as the article says, it was essential that the founder should be able to cope with brighter conditions when leaving the nest (i.e. the ability first arose in response to a new requirement). Such is the nature of “castes” in termite society that this ability was passed on, just as other abilities were passed on to other castes. Of course this means the brain is plastic, but I don’t see the origin of the ability as being predictive: the ability would have arisen in response to an immediate need. To understand the whole history, we would need fossils of every stage of termite development. I doubt if we’ll find them.

DAVID: What a weak response. All you have done is insert your bias and refuted the point the author's made. A brain in anticipation of need!

dhw: The author makes no attempt to explain how such an ability originated.

Why should he? He is a Darwinist who assumes natural selection easily saw the future and prepared for it.

dhw: I see it as precisely the same process as pre-whale legs turning into flippers. You presumably have your God popping in to perform an operation on a few termites to prepare their eyes for the day when they will leave their nests to search outside in the light for a new location. (And somehow also in preparation for when humans will arrive a hundred million years or so later.) I have the termites realizing that accommodation is getting crowded, and they need to go and search. Over time, just as over generations legs turn into flippers from repeated usage in the water, the eyesight of the kings and queens improves over generations. The termite brain is plastic – it responds to new needs, just like ours. Please tell me why you find this explanation less believable than the divine one outlined above.

The point is clear. You must disregard Darwinist interpretation if it doesn't fit you enormous bias.