RE: Vision and Evolution (A Critique of Dawkins)
August 4, 2019 at 8:59 am
(This post was last modified: August 4, 2019 at 9:09 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Eyes predate central nervous systems.
This is a general comment. It’s the existence of an eye that provides useful information that a creature with a brain will experience as a selective pressure on their brain.
The pressure being to capture more of that potential information. This isn’t a one way relationship, ofc. Every alteration of each structure (and others) can be the impetus of alteration for the other.
Put simply, having an eye makes having a “better” brain more useful, and having a better brain makes having a better eye more useful.
We think that the earliest eyes were directly attached to motor cells. Such that light shining on that cell caused a creature to move. We think that the earliest CNS were networked motor cells. This is what’s meant by eyes coopting existing nervous systems and their functions.
This is a general comment. It’s the existence of an eye that provides useful information that a creature with a brain will experience as a selective pressure on their brain.
The pressure being to capture more of that potential information. This isn’t a one way relationship, ofc. Every alteration of each structure (and others) can be the impetus of alteration for the other.
Put simply, having an eye makes having a “better” brain more useful, and having a better brain makes having a better eye more useful.
We think that the earliest eyes were directly attached to motor cells. Such that light shining on that cell caused a creature to move. We think that the earliest CNS were networked motor cells. This is what’s meant by eyes coopting existing nervous systems and their functions.
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