OK, I think I can express the thought concisely now. It took a bit of thinking. And it goes a little somethin' like this.. (hit it!)
Evolution and genetics are related in the following way:
- Some organism gets some genes (yay!). This is called 'conception.'
- These genes affect / guide some systems of that organism. ('system' is left purposefully ambiguous here)
- The systems of that organism affect how that organism helps its species to reproduce
THUS, if the system is different in one organism (due to some mutation), and that change helps the organism's species reproduce, then, generally speaking, that system will be "selected" for. This means, then, that the genotype underlying that particular phenotype will be propogated to 'future releases' of that organisms' species.
After further analysis, it is
premise 2 (above) that is important in where I want to go.
In order for evolutionists to scientifically argue that some "system" (there's that word again) is truly an adaptive one, they MUST have a link between genetics and that system. If this link does not exist, then, the way I see it, only the principle of parsimony could be used to say that the system is 'probably' governed by genetics.
So, to summarize, BEFORE calling a "system" adaptive, evolutionists need to have some scientific evidence that the system is governed by genetics.
Neural systems, and especially "innate behavior" such as the one given in the OP, I think are important and COMPLEX "systems" which govern pretty much everything to do with vertibrate animals. I'll give three examples:
- The 'innate behavior' for the birds to search for food from 'long thin red things' (see reference in OP)
- The 'innate behavior' for things to either a. walk right out of the womb (cows?) or b. learn to walk
- The 'innate' aspects of something like emotion or facial expression
I know a bit about neuroscience, but not too much yet. I'd like to know more from the people here. I'd also like to know if people place the same importance on this issue as I do. From what I've read in the forum, I'm expecting a resounding "NO!" and I'm interested to know why.
Thanks!
Ben