On 16 March 2015 at 06:49, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Organisms apply pressure on surfaces, even if they are dead. This is >> just a property of chunks of solid matter. Evolution did not create this >> behaviour > > > I disagree. Evolution didn't select for that behavior but it did cause it, > without Evolution no cadaver would exist and so there would be no pressure > at that spot. > > > The question is simple: why can't organisms generated by evolutionary >> processes possess properties that are not the result of evolutionary >> pressure? >> > > All the properties that an animal has are the result of evolutionary > pressure although sometimes it's indirect, the property may not confer a > reproductive advantage and it might even be invisible to Evolution but > Evolution could still produce it if it's the product of some other property > that does have an evolutionary advantage. Not every aspect of a building > is the result of a decision by an architect, some features are just the > byproduct of other decisions; if he wants to put a arch in a rectangular > enclosure he's going to get a spandrel whether he wants it or not. It's the > same with evolutionary spandrels, if intelligence confers an Evolutionary > advantage it will be selected for and its byproduct, consciousness, will > come along for the ride even if it has no Evolutionary advantage > whatsoever. >
So, consciousness - evolutionary advantage or spandrell? -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
