Th[e] strategy [of preferring less knowledge and intelligence due to their high cognitive costs] is exemplified by the sea squirt larva, which swims about until it finds a suitable rock, to which it then permanently affixes itself. Cemented in place, the larva has less need for complex information processing, whence it proceeds to digest part of its own brain (its cerebral ganglion). Academics can sometimes observe a similar phenomenon in colleagues who are granted tenure.
It is perhaps worth noting that a similar comment was made by Dennett:
“The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn’t need its brain anymore, so it eats it! It’s rather like getting tenure.”
Apparently it does… a few minutes of googling turned up a cite to Rodolfo Llinas (1987), who referred to it as “a process paralleled by some human academics upon obtaining university tenure.”
Hah! Um… hm. A quick perusal of Google results for “sea squirt -tenure” gets me some moderately interesting stuff about their role as high-sensitivity harbingers for certain pollutants, and something about invasive sea-squirt species in harbors. But nothing about their life-cycle per se. I give a tentative “no.”
Nick Bostrom
It is perhaps worth noting that a similar comment was made by Dennett:
...in 1991 or so.
I remember this as a famous proverb, it may predate Dennett.
Apparently it does… a few minutes of googling turned up a cite to Rodolfo Llinas (1987), who referred to it as “a process paralleled by some human academics upon obtaining university tenure.”
Has the life cycle of the sea squirt ever been notably used to describe something other than the reaction of an academic to tenure?
Hah! Um… hm. A quick perusal of Google results for “sea squirt -tenure” gets me some moderately interesting stuff about their role as high-sensitivity harbingers for certain pollutants, and something about invasive sea-squirt species in harbors. But nothing about their life-cycle per se. I give a tentative “no.”