I think this occurred to me the first time I read the story, but I never commented at that time, but the idea of life evolving to transmit genetic and neurological information actually strikes me as pretty implausible. Storage of genetic information probably requires a highly information-dense carrier, like our DNA. And large molecules like DNA diffuse extremely slowly, so they’re not much good for transmitting information at reaction speeds. I don’t think biological life is likely to luck into originating with a single medium of information transmission which is both quick and has good information density.
I think this occurred to me the first time I read the story, but I never commented at that time, but the idea of life evolving to transmit genetic and neurological information actually strikes me as pretty implausible. Storage of genetic information probably requires a highly information-dense carrier, like our DNA. And large molecules like DNA diffuse extremely slowly, so they’re not much good for transmitting information at reaction speeds. I don’t think biological life is likely to luck into originating with a single medium of information transmission which is both quick and has good information density.