Biological complexity: how we smell odors (Introduction)

by David Turell @, Friday, May 27, 2016, 15:13 (2862 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: What I think is beyond question, though, is that in many organisms the sense of smell performs a much wider range of functions than awareness of a predator: alertness to danger, communication, identification, marking out territory, sexual attraction, the hunt for food etc., all of which are essential to survival. I really can't see how the development of any of the senses can be regarded as complexification for its own sake when each of them is so useful in its own right. We know of course that organisms can survive without them, but does anyone seriously believe that having them is not an improvement over not having them?-My interpretation is quite different. Of course, a complex result which is successful will be an improvement. The basic drive is to create complexity to achieve that result. I view 'drive to complexity' as a shotgun approach, and then, per Darwin, what works stays. Your 'seeking improvement' approach sounds more theistically teleological than an agnostic should sound. -As to your question of how it all works, the 'smell buds' are neurons at the surface which then appreciate the chemicals by structure, somehow, yet to be worked out, through theories listed by the author. He doesn't know just yet, but fascinating.


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