On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 12:59 PM, Bruno Marchal <marc...@ulb.ac.be> wrote: > > On 05 Mar 2013, at 19:39, Craig Weinberg wrote: > > > > On Tuesday, March 5, 2013 12:45:11 PM UTC-5, Bruno Marchal wrote: >> >> >> On 05 Mar 2013, at 08:43, Jesse Mazer wrote: >> >> >> >> On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 11:27 PM, Pierz <pie...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> Really Craig? It invalidates mechanistic assumptions about eyes? I'm sure >>> the researchers would be astonished at such a wild conclusion. All the >>> research shows is brain plasticity in interpreting signals from unusual >>> neural pathways. How does that invalidate mechanism? >> >> >> Yes, I was confused at first by the statement in the first paragraph that >> the eyes "can confer vision without a direct neural connection to the brain" >> (maybe Craig was confused by this too?), but it seems that by "direct neural >> connection" they just mean an optic nerve wired directly to the brain, >> bypassing the spinal cord like the optic nerve normally does, since later in >> the article they do mention the eyes were connected (indirectly) to the >> brain via the spinal cord: "No one would have guessed that eyes on the flank >> of a tadpole could see, especially when wired only to the spinal cord and >> not the brain." >> >> >> Even that would not be conceptually astonishing. My computer is not wired >> to anything, and I can still send you a mail. It would have meant only that >> optic cells have some wifi systems. Cute, without doubt, but still not a >> threat for computationalism. Improbable also, but who knows. >> >> Bruno >> >> > > If they were wireless from the start though, why use an optic nerve? > > > OK. That's show only that biological evolution did not invest in radio > waves. Why? Interesting question. Probably not enough profitable locally, > contrary to direct exchange of biochemical material.
Interesting question indeed. Radio waves seem more energy efficient than sound, which requires a lot of muscle activity to produce. It could be a problem of irreductible complexity. You need to evolve both a radio transmitter and a receiver, each one useless without the other. The same is not true for sound. Hearing is an evolutionary advantage on its own, and the ability to vocalise comes almost for free from the breathing and digestive systems, that we need anyway. Telmo. > > Bruno > > > > > > Craig > >> >> >> >> >> >> Jesse >> >> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Everything List" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to everything-li...@googlegroups.com. >>> To post to this group, send email to everyth...@googlegroups.com. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Everything List" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to everything-li...@googlegroups.com. >> To post to this group, send email to everyth...@googlegroups.com. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> >> >> http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/ >> >> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > > http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~marchal/ > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
