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Author Topic:   How is Natural selection a mechanism?
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4407
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.5


(1)
Message 145 of 191 (816319)
08-02-2017 5:32 PM
Reply to: Message 140 by Taq
08-02-2017 12:48 PM


We also know that the experience of color is governed by the physical brain.
I agree that the brain processes the signals from the eye and constructs the sensations that we experience as sight, but the color component is primarily determined by the opsins in the cone photoreceptor cells of the eye activating wavelength specific nerves.
People with a common type of color blindness have told me that often they cannot differentiate between red and green. They are missing or have a mutation in the gene that produces one of the opsin photopigments. There are also people who have trouble with blue and yellow perception. I try to imagine what the world looks like to them.
My boss in the insect lab was red/green color blind and occasionally would forget and tell me to shoot a specific colored part of an insect that didn't look to me like it did to him. What a shame that he could not see some of the extraordinarily beautiful patterns on the insects that he studies. I was able to show some of them to him by replacing the original color in an image with one he could see.
I found a really interesting paper: The genetics of normal and defective color vision, by Jay Neitz and Maureen Neitz, 2012, PubMed Central (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM).
It will take me a while to read this one.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

This message is a reply to:
 Message 140 by Taq, posted 08-02-2017 12:48 PM Taq has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 148 by NoNukes, posted 08-02-2017 10:32 PM Tanypteryx has replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4407
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.5


(1)
Message 149 of 191 (816332)
08-03-2017 12:23 AM
Reply to: Message 148 by NoNukes
08-02-2017 10:32 PM


One might legitimately, ask "where do the eyes end and the brain begin?"
I think the eyes are an extension of the brain and to a lesser extent, our other senses are also. We have this wonderful sensation of our body in space that results from a high-resolution neural net. An easy way to test the sensitivity to stimulus is in water of varying temperature. What is amazing is the sense of self that the brain creates from all this sensory input.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

This message is a reply to:
 Message 148 by NoNukes, posted 08-02-2017 10:32 PM NoNukes has seen this message but not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 150 by 1.61803, posted 08-03-2017 10:46 AM Tanypteryx has replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4407
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.5


(1)
Message 152 of 191 (816365)
08-03-2017 11:44 AM
Reply to: Message 150 by 1.61803
08-03-2017 10:46 AM


Re: Inception
Your in the zone so to speak. Zen driving.
Focused attention on the important stuff.
I try to imagine what it is like for other organisms that are aware of their surroundings. Are their thoughts all images? My thoughts are a combination of imagery and speech.
Much of our other decisions are mediated through our subconscious, endocrine system and biome. We can of course override their decisions but for the most part they just convince us it was OUR decision in the first place.
Brain experiments have borne out that some decisions we think we are consciously making are already a second or so prior, generated and implemented in our subconscious. "Inception" anyone? The thinker behind the thought may just be a puppet. Frighting thought to be sure.
Oh I by pass any angst created by this thought by just saying its all a symbiotic relationship that make me, ME.
Don't forget bacterial biome that is also part of you. Do they have any control of our decisions? There are microbes that can infect insects and control their behavior to ensure maximum dispersal of their reproductive cells to infect more victims.
Rabies comes to mind as a microbe that controls its host to infect new hosts.
Natural selection in action.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

This message is a reply to:
 Message 150 by 1.61803, posted 08-03-2017 10:46 AM 1.61803 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 153 by 1.61803, posted 08-03-2017 12:38 PM Tanypteryx has seen this message but not replied

  
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