Juvenile Sea Squirt

 "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!"

                                                                                                                          ~ Daniel Dennett

 

How often have we seen people wandering through the sea of life searching for meaning….searching for a suitable place to cling to and make a home for life.  For this task, he/she has a rudimentary need waiting to be satisfied. When these people find this place, they dig in so deep that discerning thought is no longer required. At that point, critical reflection and rational dialogue dies within them while they live….or should I say, while they exist?

Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny

Ok…I know you’re wondering….. “What the heck?”

If you will, give me 227 words to explain.
I know we’re all pattern seeking creatures, but there is something that happens to me every time I listen to people speak, or any time I read a book.  I can’t help but see words/stories in metaphors.

An example….Someone said the other day, “we’re never there”…I immediately thought, “That’s because we’re always here…right here…right now.”

So where am I going with this?

I’ve recently been reading about bugs and parasites. Every sentence I read brings forth a new perspective about human behavior.  There are certain behaviors in other species that appear to be recapitulated (brief summary) in humans.

So this is where the title comes from. Let’s look at the definition….

Ontogeny - The origin and development of an individual organism from embryo to adult.

Recapitulates - To give a brief summary of something….to reiterate.

Phylogeny - the evolutionary history of a kind of organism.

( By the way, this theory has been disproven)

The easiest explanation for this hypothesis is that in developing from embryo to adult, animals go through stages resembling or representing successive stages in the evolution of their remote ancestors.

I would like to share 3 stories of different species behaviors (juvenile sea squirt, moth, and parasite) that appear to be recapitulated in humans.

Thanks for listening to my pattern seeking mind!