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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Jeffrey Hamelman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:12:26 -0400
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>
> This is utterly preposterous, because it is impossible!
Perhaps it is only preposterous from the perspective of 
overly-cerebral-laden Homo sapiens. We are unable to cross the line from our 
cognitive abilities to know what goes on internally in the broader world of 
nature. The fact that everything for scientists is filtered through the 
scientific method is quite a weak link.
>
> (This is
> naturally unacceptable to scientists who do not accept the existence of
> "instincts", which they view as non-definable, and hence, non-existent
> entities.)
This ties in with the above comment.
>
> However, assuming, for the sake of the discussion, that honeybees do have 
> an
> "instinctive" ability to correctly interpret information relayed in their
> own "dialect", in no way could they ever have an "instinctive" ability to
> correctly interpret information relayed in a different "dialect". The only
> way honeybees could correctly interpret such information, is by doing the
> scientific research scientists must do for that purpose.
Why? Do baby birds do scientific research so they can figure out how to 
sing? And don't most non-human species instinctively know that it's probably 
a good idea to avoid getting too close to humans? It sure seems that way. Or 
maybe their moms just told them to avoid us? Wouldn't it be great if 
scientists finally acknowledged that the world of nature is so very much 
more complex than our feeble understanding can ever know?

Jeffrey Hamelman
Vermont 

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