[UA] Crosswords and Blue Teets

[Andrew]

Thursday, June 07, 2001, 2:32:39 PM, Greg wrote:

>>    Thoughts that have been thought are produced more
>>and more easily as more and more people think them.
>>Evidence of this has been found in other species as
>>well: the famous Blue Teets of england, a
>>non-migratory bird species that learned how to open
>>cream bottles between WWI and WWII.

GS> That is a bit of a puzzler,

Actually, if I remember correctly, I read a piece in a Susan Blackmore
book (possibly The Meme Machine) which covered this.  Blue tits sit on
available surfaces and automatically peck at any soft area (it's a
natural action for them).  This happens to make them encounter milk
under certain circumstances, but it's not a learned action, merely the
consequences of an instinctive reaction in unusual circumstances.

Andy D

____  

"My doctor says that I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."


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