How do genes tell a baby turtle to follow the moon to the ocean after birth?
In: Biology
Daniel Dennett discusses the analogous behaviour of frogs eating flies to illustrate the (under)determination of meaning. In brief, it seems that frogs don’t really see flies; they just detect black blurs moving in front of them. But changes in circumstances (such as an invasive species of fly arriving) cause adaptive responses in frogs, so changes in meaning emerge (not in individuals but across the species) as nature selects the optimal fly detectors. If sea turtles don’t go extinct too quickly, we will see a similar recalibration of their instincts, as meaning and function distinguish between moonlight and boardwalks. (See Intuition Pumps, ch. 47.)
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