## From Bacteria to Bach and Back ### From Bacteria to Bach and Back  #### Metadata * Author: [[Daniel C. Dennett]] * Full Title: From Bacteria to Bach and Back * Category: #books #### Highlights * The so-called intelligence in trees and sponges and insects is not theirs; they are just brilliantly designed to make smart moves at the right time, and while the design is brilliant, the designer is as uncomprehending as they are. (Location 1409) * Then there are the insects, including all the clueless termites and ants that outweigh the huge human population celebrated by MacCready. We and our domesticated animals may compose 98% of the terrestrial vertebrate biomass, but that is a small portion of life on the planet. Competence without comprehension is the way of life of the vast majority of living things on the planet and should be the default presumption until we can demonstrate that some individual organisms really do, (Location 1420) * You may have seen video of antelopes being chased across the plains by a predator and noticed that some of the antelopes leap high in the air during their attempts to escape their pursuer. This is called stotting. Why do antelopes stot? It is clearly beneficial, because antelopes that stot seldom get caught and eaten. (Location 1460) * We human beings are the champion comprehenders on the planet, and when we try to understand other species, we tend to model their comprehension on our experience, imaginatively filling animals' heads with wise reflections as if the animals were strangely shaped people in fur coats. (Location 1570) * so you can send a 2.5 megabyte monochrome bitmap picture file by playing Twenty Million Questions. (Is the first pixel white? …) (Location 1727) * The wiring diagram of the nematode worm, C. elegans, with its 302 neurons of 118 varieties, is now just about complete, and its operation is becoming understood at the level of individual neuron-to-neuron actions. (Location 1761) * Note: c elegans! * Robert Anton Wilson, an author of science fiction and writer on science, proposed the Jesus unit, defined as the amount of (scientific) information known during the lifetime of Jesus. (Location 1797) * cartridge (or a cartridge loaded with a wax "dummy") to some of the shooters in a firing squad—and letting them know that this is the policy—so that no shooter has to live with the knowledge that their action caused the death. (Less often noted is the fact that issuing blanks to some shooters removes an option that might otherwise be tempting on some occasions: to rebel, turning one's rifle on the officer in command. If you knew you had a live round, that opportunity would be available for informed rational choice. You can't use information that you don't have.) (Location 1836) * In the same way, Skinnerian, Popperian, and Gregorian creatures inform themselves during their own lifetimes by their encounters with their environments, becoming ever more effective agents thanks to the information they can now use to do all manner of new things, including developing new ways of further informing themselves. (Location 1881) # From Bacteria to Bach and Back  ## Metadata - Author: [[Daniel C. Dennett]] - Full Title: From Bacteria to Bach and Back - Category: #books ## Highlights - The so-called intelligence in trees and sponges and insects is not theirs; they are just brilliantly designed to make smart moves at the right time, and while the design is brilliant, the designer is as uncomprehending as they are. (Location 1409) - Then there are the insects, including all the clueless termites and ants that outweigh the huge human population celebrated by MacCready. We and our domesticated animals may compose 98% of the terrestrial vertebrate biomass, but that is a small portion of life on the planet. Competence without comprehension is the way of life of the vast majority of living things on the planet and should be the default presumption until we can demonstrate that some individual organisms really do, (Location 1420) - You may have seen video of antelopes being chased across the plains by a predator and noticed that some of the antelopes leap high in the air during their attempts to escape their pursuer. This is called stotting. Why do antelopes stot? It is clearly beneficial, because antelopes that stot seldom get caught and eaten. (Location 1460) - We human beings are the champion comprehenders on the planet, and when we try to understand other species, we tend to model their comprehension on our experience, imaginatively filling animals’ heads with wise reflections as if the animals were strangely shaped people in fur coats. (Location 1570) - so you can send a 2.5 megabyte monochrome bitmap picture file by playing Twenty Million Questions. (Is the first pixel white? …) (Location 1727) - The wiring diagram of the nematode worm, C. elegans, with its 302 neurons of 118 varieties, is now just about complete, and its operation is becoming understood at the level of individual neuron-to-neuron actions. (Location 1761) - Note: c elegans! - Robert Anton Wilson, an author of science fiction and writer on science, proposed the Jesus unit, defined as the amount of (scientific) information known during the lifetime of Jesus. (Location 1797) - cartridge (or a cartridge loaded with a wax “dummy”) to some of the shooters in a firing squad—and letting them know that this is the policy—so that no shooter has to live with the knowledge that their action caused the death. (Less often noted is the fact that issuing blanks to some shooters removes an option that might otherwise be tempting on some occasions: to rebel, turning one’s rifle on the officer in command. If you knew you had a live round, that opportunity would be available for informed rational choice. You can’t use information that you don’t have.) (Location 1836) - In the same way, Skinnerian, Popperian, and Gregorian creatures inform themselves during their own lifetimes by their encounters with their environments, becoming ever more effective agents thanks to the information they can now use to do all manner of new things, including developing new ways of further informing themselves. (Location 1881)