 Quote by precisionart
At what point does perception enter the process of evolution. Are all the mechanisms of evolution 'blind'? In other words, it seems that a tremendous power is ignored - an organism can perceive their environment so why doesn't evolution capitalize on this instead of relying on random mutations etc.
It also seems (at least to me) that there is a neglect for intelligent (forgive the word) activity in evolution. Symbolic thought is the most gross form, but every life form has some form of organized responses which have the potential of playing a role in evolution. I also don't think it is a fallacy to say that since intelligence (leaving the word ill defined) is an activity of the products of evolution (namely, us), then it must be operative in the overall process/movement of evolution. Breaking the process up into discreet units (organisms, species) hides this obvious fact.
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There is no firm line between reactions and intelligence. Reactions are important. As far as anyone knows they are inherited. Reactions that involve memory are more sophisticated. Then there are goals, and having as a goal something that has never existed before.
Eventually the organisms become intelligent enough to be aware of the process of evolution and take advantage of it. Natural selection falls away and then artificial selection rules. Farmers breeding pigs and corn are a good example. This has been going on for millenia. They didn't need Darwin to do that.
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