Posted: Oct 07, 2017 3:52 pm
John Platko wrote::book:
and this is interesting.
Moreover, to reduce the odds of missing future reward, an optimal agent may trade the risk of immediate pain for information gain and thus forget faster after aversive conditioning. A simple neuronal network reproduces these features. Our theory shows that forgetting in Drosophila appears as an optimal adaptive behavior in a changing environment. This is in line with the view that forgetting is adaptive rather than a consequence of limitations of the memory system.
They seem to understand how the future can cause effects in the present.
You are bringing up the argument from design. Yes, living things show a huge amount of design which seems to be planned ahead, acorns grow into oaks etc. All of it is explained by the theory of evolution by natural selection, which operates over populations and over many generations to produce individuals which appear to be designed for the future. This appearance of forethought design is misleading, since it only reflects differential survival in the past. Fruitflies of the past which forgot aversive experiences over time, and tried again, were more likely to survive and leave offspring which were, like their parents, capable of strategic forgetfulness. This is not an example of the future causing effects in the present.
The language researchers use often implies forethought design, although they have no intention of implying any cause of design other than natural selection, because this kind of language is very much less cumbersome.