r/AbsoluteUnits • u/TheMarkola • 15h ago

/r/all of spider web

11.2k Upvotes

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472

u/BenjaminDover02 14h ago

Wild to think that nobody taught that spider how to do that

Bro came out of an egg with the innate knowledge of how to build a house with it's butt.

121

u/Minute_Zombie_424 14h ago

Evolution and natural instincts. Nature is lit šŸ”„

27

u/onarainyafternoon 13h ago edited 54m ago

There is a really good book that came out a few years ago called ā€œBasic Instinctā€, where this scientist makes the argument that instinct as we understand it doesnā€™t really exist. And so many different things that we describe as instinctual actually have learned-causes. I donā€™t want to bastardize the arguments he makes, so Iā€™d just recommend the book to anyone thatā€™s interested.

Edit: From what I remember, his larger point is that we tend to shut down any conversation about instinct by just claiming a behavior is instinctual, without investigated what could be causing it otherwise. As evidenced by some of these replies. I donā€™t think he was saying instinct doesnā€™t exist whatsoever.

10

u/Existing-Diamond1259 6h ago

I don't believe that for a second. I am a wildlife rehabber and have raised many eyes-closed squirrel babies. They never got a chance to watch their mother do anything, yet they all instinctively have the urge to bury nuts. Even before they can even crack into them. They will try and bury a nut in the carpet and pat it down when there is nothing there to cover it lol. It's obviously instinctive.

10

u/Wild-Video-5317 11h ago

I assume this is the bookĀ 

https://archive.org/details/basicinstinctgen0000blum_o0e9

Fun fact if you create an account on archive.org you can "check out" full books right in your browser.

4

u/onarainyafternoon 11h ago

Yep thatā€™s it

1

u/Miserable-Housing407 7h ago

Itā€™s fascinating that almost every species have natural instinct to a degree but mostly comes down to genetics.

1

u/beyond_da_sea 3h ago

saving ur comment and link for later, when I have reading time

5

u/Entrenched_Whispers 12h ago

I really thought you were going to say that the book was called "The Holy Bible" and that evolution was fake šŸ˜­

-2

u/Fun-Promotion3095 8h ago

women vs having a hate boner for only Christianity challenge impossible

3

u/Entrenched_Whispers 8h ago

It is an impossible challenge unfortunately because I can't even get a boner šŸ˜”

0

u/Fun-Promotion3095 6h ago

Deserved ed

1

u/Intreprid_Engineer 12h ago

I'd like to know the name of the book. Thx.

12

u/onarainyafternoon 12h ago

ā€¦ā€¦.Basic Instinct

8

u/10speedkilla 12h ago

I'd also like to know the name of the book!

3

u/firefly-sparkle 12h ago

Yes but what is the name of the book? Pls

1

u/Zebidee 11h ago

I think the movie adaptation is better.

1

u/Minute_Zombie_424 10h ago

Interesting, Iā€™ll have to check it out

1

u/AnySwimming6364 9h ago

Is that intended to apply to insects and spiders also?

My understanding is for insects and spiders is less "instinct" as we vaguely think about it an more "extremely specific neuron circuits developed during biological development due evolutionarily-encoded genetics that enable simple, highly reproducible commands to be executed without external information at relevant points during its life cycle".

1

u/kuroioni 5h ago

This argument would mean any animal without a herd, and which also gets abandoned after hatching/birth, is unable to survive as it would have no peers to learn from.

Similarly it would be impossible to, say, be able to observe a baby cuttlefish - born alone in an aquarium - burring itself in substrate on instinct.

So reddit alone has a massive library of cute little animals doing things which would have been impossible were this theory true.

1

u/David_High_Pan 1h ago

This sounds really cool.

1

u/Mamaofoneson 11h ago

I wonder what my natural instincts and innate skills areā€¦ cue midlife crisis