Direct neural IO has a large fitness moat. Once an animal has any kind of actuator that can modify the environment, and any kind of sensor that can detect info about the environment, then one animals actions will sometimes modify what another animal senses, and hence how it behaves. Evolution can then get to work optimizing this. Many benefits can accrue, even if no other animal communicates. A crow pattering its feet to bring up worms has some understanding of other animals being things it can manipulate, and the tools to do it. (humans are best at training other animals as well as communicating, both need a theory of mind.)
Animals don’t touch neurons together except in freak accidents, where any chance of survival is minimal. Until you have functional communication, banging neurons together is useless. Until you have a system that filters it out, saline exposure will spam nonsense. And once you have one form of communication, the pressure to develop a second is almost none.
And once you have one form of communication, the pressure to develop a second is almost none.
I agree with almost all of your post, but not this, given the huge number of channels of communication that animals have. Sound, sight, smell and touch are all important bidirectional communication channels between many social animals.
Direct neural IO has a large fitness moat. Once an animal has any kind of actuator that can modify the environment, and any kind of sensor that can detect info about the environment, then one animals actions will sometimes modify what another animal senses, and hence how it behaves. Evolution can then get to work optimizing this. Many benefits can accrue, even if no other animal communicates. A crow pattering its feet to bring up worms has some understanding of other animals being things it can manipulate, and the tools to do it. (humans are best at training other animals as well as communicating, both need a theory of mind.)
Animals don’t touch neurons together except in freak accidents, where any chance of survival is minimal. Until you have functional communication, banging neurons together is useless. Until you have a system that filters it out, saline exposure will spam nonsense. And once you have one form of communication, the pressure to develop a second is almost none.
I agree with almost all of your post, but not this, given the huge number of channels of communication that animals have. Sound, sight, smell and touch are all important bidirectional communication channels between many social animals.