Monday, December 05, 2016
How?
The viral video of tardigrades screwing is deeply impressive. The researchers say that the mating act lasts about an hour, and clearly involves a complex 'script' in which both partners** know what they** should do at each point.
HOW?
Tardigrades are unbelievably simple. Each complete critter has somewhere between 1000 and 10000 cells. That sounds like a lot, but an average typist hits 10000 letters in an hour.
You can count the cells in this picture. You can build a structure of similar complexity in a day.
The entire animal is about the same size as ONE NEURON in a typical insect. Tardigrades do have an organized nervous system, similar in form to insects, containing a few hundred neurons.
Early analog computers typically had a few hundred neuron-like elements. They couldn't remotely approach this hour-long orchestrated dance, let alone the other eating, walking, and circadian scheduling scripts needed for an animal.
Where does the tardigrade keep its intelligence? Is it in the neurons, or entirely outside the animal?
= = = = =
** Linguistic note: I'm lethally allergic to gender-neutral language for humans, but it's appropriate for actual mixed-gender animals like tardigrades.
You can count the cells in this picture. You can build a structure of similar complexity in a day.
The entire animal is about the same size as ONE NEURON in a typical insect. Tardigrades do have an organized nervous system, similar in form to insects, containing a few hundred neurons.
Early analog computers typically had a few hundred neuron-like elements. They couldn't remotely approach this hour-long orchestrated dance, let alone the other eating, walking, and circadian scheduling scripts needed for an animal.
Where does the tardigrade keep its intelligence? Is it in the neurons, or entirely outside the animal?
= = = = =
** Linguistic note: I'm lethally allergic to gender-neutral language for humans, but it's appropriate for actual mixed-gender animals like tardigrades.
Labels: Grand Blueprint
¶ 1:43 AM
