In this blog I wish to share my thoughts on the subjects of natural and human sciences, philosophy and whatever crosses my mind and I consider worth sharing. Consilience is a word recently brought back in fashion by E.O. Wilson who proposes to unify knowledge by melding natural sciences with all other branches of knowledge. I find this enterprise just great!
The ulimate reason is that a dam creates a body of water that makes a relatively safe neighborhood for a beaver family. But it is very likely that the beaver is unaware of this. The proximate reason, i.e. the real reason as far as the beaver is concern, is that he hates the sound of running water! Researchers have shown that if you place headspeakers playing the sound of running water at proximity to beavers, the beavers will do all what they can to stop it! In one experiment, the beavers covered the headspeaker with mud until the sound stopped...
It could well be due to an innate drive of ours to loathe them. Most primates raised in captivity and never put in contact with a snake will look very scared the first time they will see one. Interestingly, chimpanzees and bonobos (our two equally closest cousins) have different responses when first confronted with a snake. Chimpanzees are scared but bonobos apparently are not. Anyway, since most primates are innately scared of snakes, I wonder how would react a man, who never heard of a snake before, in front of one… Like most other primates (scared) or like bonobos (not scared)? I also wonder if the same kind of innate reaction exists toward spiders because I really do not like them (and writing that down I am now checking my room just in case I spot one...)
