Dr. Wenner writes: >Finally, one respondent resorted to demanding answers to a set of WHY questions. Sorry, but those are teleological, not scientific questions. Comment: The question "Why?" does not always imply teleology. "Why?" is the beginning of all scientific inquiry. The merest child wants to know, if the earth is spinning like a merry go round, why don't we get dizzy? For centuries, people have asked: why do bees dance? The honey bee colony is one of the most sophisticated and complex insect systems known, rivaled only by ants and termites. The colony is a marvel of efficiency. Were it not, bees would not be able to survive through six month winters, or droughts -- situations that would kill off other species. So it is logical to suppose that the bees would only allocate a large expenditure of energy on "dancing" if it provided some sort of "pay-off". Conversely, it seems ridiculous to suppose that a system that encodes time and direction would have evolved without any useful function to the colony. Of course, it could have. Nature has many such strange features that have no apparent function. Or does it? When studied closely enough, almost all these features can be found to have some sort of usefulness for the organism, usually related to self-preservation. Obviously, if a colony did have a way of communicating information to other members, it would very useful. The questions that interest many of us are "How could all this be going on inside a brain the size of a grain of salt?" and "How do honey bees visualize the world?" Computer scientists are developing ever tinier microprocessors so some of these questions may soon be answerable, as well. > Teleology is based on the proposition that the universe has design and purpose. Teleology represents a basic argument for the existence of God, in that the order and efficiency of the natural world seem not to be accidental. Teleologists oppose mechanistic interpretations of the universe that rely solely on organic development or natural causation. -- © Microsoft Encarta < pb Help with data collection regarding Colony Collapse Disorder at www.beesurvey.com