>I submit as a long term evolutionary strategy, highly flexible behavior
and intelligence are far “better” for long term survival than rigid
instinctual patterns that work only under particular conditions.

That is one possibility.  On the other hand, the large number of very
successful "living fossils," such as sharks, centipedes, tadpole shrimp,
and horseshoe crabs, demonstrate that once a successful set of adaptations
have been locked in, so long as that niche persists, that species can
survive unchanged for a very long time.  And yes, I am fully aware that the
trilobites and dinosaurs went extinct : )

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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