Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!wdl1.wdl.loral.com!wdl1!mikeb From: mikeb@wdl31.wdl.loral.com (Michael H Bender) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: evolution is not a scale Message-ID: Date: 21 Dec 90 16:46:04 GMT References: <37034@cup.portal.com> <70996@bu.edu.bu.edu> Sender: root@wdl1.wdl.loral.com (SUPER USER) Followup-To: comp.ai Organization: Ford Aerospace, Western Development Laboratories Lines: 30 In-Reply-To: colby@bu-bio.bu.edu's message of 19 Dec 90 03:43:52 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: wdl31 In article <70996@bu.edu.bu.edu> colby@bu-bio.bu.edu (Chris Colby) writes: Mark [Mark Robert Thorson], I liked your post but I cringed when I read the above. The idea that evolution is a linear scale with humans at the pinnacle ^^^^^^^^^^^^ is simply not true. Other animals are not "lower" animals as you call them, just divergent. .... First a nit: the terms "higher" and "lower" don't require a linear scale, a partial ordering is sufficient. It is quite possible to define a partial ordering on the evolutionary tree -- it just means that not every two points on tree are comparable (only if they are on the same branch). However, the real point is that there is an anthropormorphic tendency to define different metrics which can be applied to the evolutionary tree and which do provide linear scales. Isn't it a surprise that these metrics, developed by humans, always show humans on the top of the scale?! Putting aside Teleolgoical questions, I think that the metric which measures the rate at which an organism can receive and process information is a very fascinating one and worthy of discussion/debate. A different metric which I have also heard of defines the concept of "free will" as the range of different behaviors that an organism may show to the same stimulus. It has been claimed that animals like humans and the apes show much more free will than ants or rats. Although I don't know of any easy way of measuring "free will", I find it an intriguing concept. Mike Bender