Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

A spider does not learn to make a web either. This is arguably more complicated than flying. And its brain is much smaller than a bird's.


A spider spinning web is an emergent behavior built up from a bunch of simpler ones like excretion, simple movement, and electrostatic hopping from point to point. A bird flying requires the coordination of a much larger number of muscles at the same time, which is much more complex from a nervous system perspective.

Spiders reproduce much faster and have a much smaller survival rate so they're well selected for that kind of instinct. Birds less so.


Excretion and simple movement from point to point, accurately describes most of my life.


I mean. I believe spiders eat lots of much smaller, flying creatures?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: