From: Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@BERKELEY.EDU)
Date: Sat Nov 18 2006 - 00:02:20 EST
> Quoting Dogan Goecmen <Dogangoecmen@AOL.COM>: > >> >> >> >> A bricklayer has to be as much as an architect as an achitect has to be >> a >> bricklayer. Otherwise they caanot build a house in cooperation. Whatever >> they >> >> may do it remains bodily activity. Marx does not say more than that. He >> talks >> >> about human beings - not about a particular profession. >> >> > > > But he is attempting to make a distinction between human and > animal labour here, comparing architects to spiders and bees. > His claim is that human labour is teleological and goal directed > whereas that of bees and spiders is not. > > We now know that this is untrue: > "Anticipatory maze learning has been demonstrated in > salticid jumping spiders of the genus Portia. These > animals are presented with a maze that can be viewed > in its entirety from the vantage point of the spider. The > maze consists of a set of wire walkways representing > potential paths from the starting position to that of a food > lure placed at the maze endpoint (Figure 1). One route > reaches the food but the other does not. After scanning of > the entire maze, visually following the tracks back from > the food source, the spider chooses an entry point to the > maze, choosing correctly in 75% of first time trials [11,12]. > This remarkable display of problem solving is carried out > by a creature with a brain several hundred microns in > diameter. Salticid spiders share with insects a rough > similarity in body plan and size, and they have a complex > brain with structures that somewhat resemble those of > insects without being strictly homologous [13,14]. > Although not a case of place learning per se, the maze > solving behavior of Portia spiders reveals a capacity for > planning and anticipation that surpasses mere implicit > memory." (Cognitive consonance: complex brain > functions in the fruit fly and its relatives > Ralph J. Greenspan and Bruno van Swinderen > , TRENDS in Neurosciences Vol.27 No.12 December 2004) > Yet we *know* when we act intentionally; the portia spider does not. We also know what it means to lose the capacity for action; the portia spider does not. > So the behaviour of Spiders is goal directed too. > Since the work of von Frisch, ( (1923) Uber die ‘Sprache’ der Bienen. > Eine > tierpsychologische Untersuchung: Zoologischer Jahrbücher (Physio- > logie) 40, 1–186), it has been known that bees labour > is not only goal directed, but involves collaboration mediated > by inter-worker communication. > > So Bees and Spiders too, have goals for their labour, which goals > they must presumably store in their heads. Are our goals stored in our head; is that where the self is, simply localized as a neural object? I thought the integrative biologists had provided good reasons for skepticism. See for example Denis Noble, The Music of Life: Biology beyond the Genome. Rakesh What then remains > of Marx's attempt to clarify the specificity of human labour. > > Neither goals, nor, contra Franklin, the use of tools distinguish > our work from animals, but : > > 1. The richness of our speech, whose vocabulary and syntax > far exceeds that of the humble bee > > 2. An enhanced memory capacity allowing us to memorise from imitation > or hearing, a longer sequence of actions than other animals > > These two allow the construction of new action programs for our bodily > actions, which can be communicated between individuals. By itself > the distinction between us and animals is still a matter of degree, > as studies of learned labour culture among Japanese Macaques or > Chimpanzees > demonstrates. > > What finally distinguishes civilised labour from that of savage or ape is > the invention of technologies of record. There is no architecture without > the > means of producing architectural drawings. It is these drawings existing > outside the body of the architect that allow the coordinated labour > required to construct large and complex buildings. It is materialised > plans, drawings, moulds, patterns, dies, and software that allow > industrial production to superceed handicraft. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. >
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