Posted: Jun 07, 2014 3:22 pm
The whole thing is a crock of shite for one simple reason - there are two major conditions to be satisfied for the visual system to be evolvable - a) Is the necessary anatomical apparatus genetically determined? and b) Is vision a good thingTM to have. Both those conditions are met (mutation and selection) so the rest - like faffing around abstract streams and shit - is ridiculous.
What is also quite fascinating is you can induce ectopic functional eyes just by expressing Pax6 in cells elsewhere - the whole thing is genetically regulated (and genes going on and off is part of basic chemistry and physics) and can actually produce vision without direct connections to the brain http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/ecto ... ction-brai
No requirement for intricate wiring patterns to process visual data at all.
What is also quite fascinating is you can induce ectopic functional eyes just by expressing Pax6 in cells elsewhere - the whole thing is genetically regulated (and genes going on and off is part of basic chemistry and physics) and can actually produce vision without direct connections to the brain http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/ecto ... ction-brai
No requirement for intricate wiring patterns to process visual data at all.