butterfly emotions

[Jo]

John Acorn wrote:
>I too am interested in the topic of how insect minds compare to our own, but
>I thought it might be helpful to point out a few things about your last
>posting, in the interest of facilitating further discussion.
>
>First, we should be careful not to commit what philosophers call the
>black-or-white fallacy.  The error here is to assume that since two things
>differ only in degree, they might as well be considered the same.
>Obviously, human and butterfly brains share certain physiological
>similarities, but that does not lead direstly to your conclusion of "so
>what, who does?"

======Glad to be back.  The listserv 'kicked' me off the list for a month
before I looked into it (I thought you were all outside following your
passions instead of posting).  When I got reinstated, I ran into email
problems locally, and now I'm dealing with a new computer that I can't seem
to get hooked up right.  Good thing I kept the old one.

Animal behavior has always fascinated me so much that nearly all other
things run a poor second.  I'd like to add my comments about butterflys and
emotions to those previous, and on the assumption that most of us on the
list believe in the theory of evolution.

It's my belief that emotions first appeared in the *successful* basic life
forms as a survival strategy: put simply, fear to avoid predation,
aggression for competing, love in order to reproduce or to form social
groups, for example.  I believe, too, that since the genesis of life, the
degree, quality, quantity, and efficiency of emotions evolved to be as
unique as physical forms in order for species to be ecologically adaptive.

Isn't the definition of 'play' as that behavior that has no obvious
survival value?  When baby animals play, they are learning and practicing
maneuvers that will enable them to survive as adults.  Does adult play
serve the same purpose?  Or do adult animals like otters roll down
hillsides for hours because they enjoy the effortless motion that seems
like flying?

This isn't to say that alternate, emotionless strategies have not also
developed to satisfy survival needs (just as iron-breathing life forms may
have developed along side oxygen-breathers, anaerobes, etc.). Whether or
not butterflys and other insects have emotions remains a mystery to me and
I would love to hear circumstantial or neurobiological evidence pro/con.

Jo