(August 4, 2019 at 9:21 am)Gae Bolga Wrote: A good example of hypothetical structures and relationships.
A photo receptive cell sending a sing along to a cluster of motor cells all on the top of a creature.
This would give powerful downward thrust in liquid when a shadow presented overhead. We would interpret this as behavior.
The same system, with analogous structures but in a terrestrial environment - can disperse chemical toxins and repellents towards a shadow as a spray.
More photosensitive cells and more fine control between clusters of motor sells confers vector based detection and evasion, or targeted spraying of voc’s. Fine control requires connectivity.
Right, so it seems you agree with the OP that sensation, perception, and behavior evolved simultaneously; or at the very least in a very close back-and-forth relationship. It wouldn't be the case that the eye evolves ahead of the other two, correct? (I'm replying to your two latest comments simultaneously btw).
My issue with even a close reciprocal evolution of all the components, is that once one of the structure gets even a little a head or behind the others, it becomes isolated. The rest of the structure will need to play "catch up" and I'm not sure how they can. To give a possibly incorrect analogy, lets assume eyes evolved from rods to cones in a single step. If cones evolve before the brain is able to process and perceive that new information as color, they become sort of vestigial. Without a brain to process the color information, the organism is unable to guide behavior accordingly, and cones become isolated from selective pressures as well (at least those stemming from behavior).
In other words, a better eye without a better brain seems useless and expensive. So it seems to me that a simultaneous all-or-nothing evolution across the components is the only way to have positive progress. A delayed system runs into too many issues.
