Critically, the areas in which ant maps are limited are the areas in which natural selection doesn’t kill them for it. Colonies that think food is in places where food isn’t starve to death.
Yes, you’ve hit on the main point. Survival (and later on, reproductive value) is what matters. The fact that the maps help them survive is what matters. The existence of the map or its accuracy matters only matters in so far as it contributes to reproductive success.
Natural selection doesn’t “reward” them for having an accurate map, only a map that helps they live and reproduce.
Yes...? And one of the key traits of a useful map is accuracy.
I mean, yes, clearly natural selection doesn’t value truth for its own sake. It certainly does favor truth for instrumental reasons. I’m uncomfortable phrasing this as “indifferent to truth” as the original quote did. But perhaps we’re talking past each other, here.
Critically, the areas in which ant maps are limited are the areas in which natural selection doesn’t kill them for it. Colonies that think food is in places where food isn’t starve to death.
Yes, you’ve hit on the main point. Survival (and later on, reproductive value) is what matters. The fact that the maps help them survive is what matters. The existence of the map or its accuracy matters only matters in so far as it contributes to reproductive success.
Natural selection doesn’t “reward” them for having an accurate map, only a map that helps they live and reproduce.
Yes...? And one of the key traits of a useful map is accuracy.
I mean, yes, clearly natural selection doesn’t value truth for its own sake. It certainly does favor truth for instrumental reasons. I’m uncomfortable phrasing this as “indifferent to truth” as the original quote did. But perhaps we’re talking past each other, here.