Rick Green wrote:
>
> Bees work all spring and summer to save stores for a yet unseen winter.  That
> is planning. If you say they are only acting instinctively, try to prove that
> assertion. Unless we can think like a bee any assertion about their intent is
> idle thinking. We see them save honey for next winter and then form a human
> conclusion about whether or not this is an example of planning. All is a
> blind alley.

Based on that reasoning, my maple tree plans for winter by shedding its
leaves in the fall. And bears plan for winter by gaining weight (so do
I).

I do not have to think like them to observe and know that they are
conditioned (instinct) to do so. Any that do not are weeded out with
little mercy by nature. Same with bees. Those that build up winter
stores survive. Those who do not do not. No planning required.

If bees plan for winter then why do some races of bees plan ahead by not
absconding and others, like AHB, go into the cold with small colonies
and few stores? Obviously the northern bee is smarter or uses PERT/CPM
(which dates me).

As far as proving the assertion that they are acting instinctively -
since different races act differently would lead more to instinct than
intelligent planning. A classic example of bees not thinking is in the
layout of the brood nest. For a long time it was thought that they had
the brood in the center, then pollen and then honey because it was
planned that way. However, when a computer simulation was run, it came
out with the same brood/pollen/honey pattern if the bees randomly put
each into any cell on the comb. In time, it develops that way, not
because the bees plan it.

There is nothing wrong with instinct. It has kept all of us alive for a
long time. But to deny it and substitute intelligence is poor science
and can lead to a host of incorrect assumptions.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Me