Intelligence in Nature - Jeremy Narby [87]
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P. 105: âINTELLIGENCEâ AND INFORMATION PROCESSING IN HUMANS AND UNICELLS
Nakagaki (2001b) writes: âHumans have consciousness, i.e., we are aware of ourselves. This is generally what we call âmind,â that part of each of us which is aware that, for instance, âI am looking at something green,â or that remembers âI rode a bicycle yesterday.â The mind is reflexive: it is able to view itself objectively. It can view itself apart from the rest of the world as an abstract model, maybe even allowing it to come to a better self-understanding. One would likely be hard put to explain how one felt when looking at something green; and even if the person were aware of the origination of that particular feeling, it would not be possible to have another person step together with them into that individual realm of feeling to gain the same impression. Thus the world in which each of us resides may not necessarily coincide with those of others; rather our own, individual worlds are realms created in our own minds, identical with our individual identity, or self-consciousness. Thus, the world we exist in is not something outside of us; rather, each of us exists entirely alone in our own, separate worlds. Next letâs consider the unconscious realm, a world which has a great deal of influence on consciousness. We have only to consider our own internal information-processing mechanisms to understand that most of them take place on the unconscious levelâ¦I believe that such unconscious information-processing mechanisms exist, to a greater or lesser extent, in all living things (for instance, the grouping tendencies of ants, or paramecium). Is this kind of information processing to be considered intelligence? On the other hand, are people with no conscious awareness of themselves, such as one in a coma, or merely asleep, to be considered unintelligent? If we can answer these questions, then we should be able to answer the question as to whether or not single-celled animals possess intelligence. It is my goal to research and clarify these unconscious information-processing mechanisms, if possible at the material level. In this effort, I consider the slime mold to be a most important, perhaps even ideal, subjectâ (pp. 11â12).
CHAPTER 9
P. 111: PHOTORECEPTORS ON BUTTERFLY GENITALIA
Arikawa (2001) writes: âButterflies sense light with their genitalia. Four photoreceptor cells in the genitalia mediate this photosensitivity. Such photoreceptors, which exist in body parts other than eyes, are collectively called extraocular photoreceptorsâ¦One of the most extensively studied cases is the photoreceptor cells in the pineal gland of the vertebrate brain. The pineal photoreceptors receive light to entrain animalsâ daily activity. In arthropods, extraocular photoreceptors are roughly divided into two types, according to their general location. The first type is found in the central nervous system. A classic example is the crayfish caudal photoreceptor, a photoreceptive interneuron in the abdominal nervous system, which mediates an escape response upon light stimulation of the abdomen. The second type is found outside the central nervous system as sensory neurons, with the photoreceptive site located on the periphery of the animals. The existence of the peripheral type of photoreceptor had long been indicated in certain scorpions, but the first conclusively documented case was that of the butterfly genital photoreceptorâ (p. 219). As butterflies mate tail to tail, and cannot see their own genitalia with their eyes, Arikawa suggests that males somehow use the light signal detected by their genital photoreceptors for copulation. Whereas females use their genital photoreceptors to lay their