I would say that from the basic natural law - "follow the path of least resistance" - everything at that level is inherent. However, everything above that level is learned. ie. It is not perfectly optimized by default. We could have several levels:
1) subatomic
2) atomic
3) molecular
4) protein interaction
5) cellular level
6) tissue level
7) organ level
8) whole inter-organism interaction
9) multi-organism interaction (behavioural interaction)
10) so on.....
From 1-4, everything is inherent and follows basic laws. From 4-8, there is a level of random optimisation. From 8-10, optimisation is both random and organized (ie. the potty training ;). So, I would call levels 8-10, optimization through (random/semiorganized/organized) learning, however primitive that might be at certain points. I would not consider most of it advanced learning, which is exclusive to humans.
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There is no 'natural state' - everything is always changing. ;) |
