I have just read an interesting book by Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini
(Principal Research Associate of the Center for Cognitive Science at
MIT), called "Inevitable Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our
Minds" (John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1994).
In his final chapter titled "Why Cognitive Illusions Are Here to
Stay", he makes an interesting comment:
"Finally, the conceptions of biological evolution that we have today,
with the exception of those of a very few real specialists, are
demonstrably so naive and simple-minded that it is a safe bet that
one day they will be a source of considerable embarrassment. We
shall all be embarrassed by our sweeping statements in the years to
come. Suffice it to remind the reader that insects had evolved at
least ten elaborate forms of mouthpieces, uniquely "adapted" (one
would say) to their feeding upon flowers, one hundred million years
before there were any flowers on Earth. Try to explain that with the
notion of adaptation. Present-day evolutionary psychology and
cognitive ecology are pathetic attempts to deduce from a few
paleo-Darwinian adaptationist cliches certain "constraints" on the
evolution of the human mind. The real process must have been, to all
evidence, the most intricate and complex phenomenon which science
will ever have to grapple. As Richard Lewontin aptly reminds us, we
know nothing at all about the evolution of cognition. As I said, we
shall all be embarrassed, in the fullness of time, by the naivete of
our present evolutionary arguments. But some will be vastly more
embarrassed than others." (Piattelli-Palmarini M., "Inevitable
Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our Minds", John Wiley &
Sons: New York, 1994, p195)
He lists in his Suggested Readings (p236) :
"The stunning story of insect mouthpieces having evolved long before
there were any flowers on Earth is told in:
Labandeira, C. C., and J. J. Sepkoski. "Insect Diversity in the
Fossil Record," Science 261:310-314 (1993)."
Before Piattelli-Palmarini is written off as a crypto-creationist, on
the back cover he receives this praise from Richard Lewontin:
"`Fascinating and insightful...I cannot recall a book that has made
me think more about the nature of thinking.' Richard C. Lewontin
Harvard University"
Rather than insect having generalised mouths which natural selection
gradually adapted to specialise with various flowers, it looks like the
mouthparts were prepared in advance for the flowers!
God bless.
Steve
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