I also wonder if and to what extent this information can transfer between individuals?
I'm reminded of the Jungian collective unconscious.
You're going to think I'm a kook now, but, there's also a panspermia angle on this. Big ifs here, but. If panspermia is true. If evolution on earth is tied to evolution of life in the wider universe via transfer of genetic material. Then it could be possible that the code in which memories (or a learned manifold, encoding useful generalisation) are encoded is compatible with life here today. You could conceivably get not just morphological/physiological changes in terrestrial organisms through viral horizontal gene transfer, but also transfer of cognitive strategy via the same mechanism. X-files kinda stuff.
All kind of unlikely, but an interesting possibility.
But that would imply that evolution was "directed", which I think is proven that it's not.
The role of viruses in evolution is almost mainstream now, it is much more likely that virus was just a method for ancient extinct organisms to exchange genes, sort of proto-sex, and not anything else outlandish.
> The role of viruses in evolution is almost mainstream now, it is much more likely that virus was just a method for ancient extinct organisms to exchange genes
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/prehistoric-virus...
I also wonder if and to what extent this information can transfer between individuals?
I'm reminded of the Jungian collective unconscious.
You're going to think I'm a kook now, but, there's also a panspermia angle on this. Big ifs here, but. If panspermia is true. If evolution on earth is tied to evolution of life in the wider universe via transfer of genetic material. Then it could be possible that the code in which memories (or a learned manifold, encoding useful generalisation) are encoded is compatible with life here today. You could conceivably get not just morphological/physiological changes in terrestrial organisms through viral horizontal gene transfer, but also transfer of cognitive strategy via the same mechanism. X-files kinda stuff. All kind of unlikely, but an interesting possibility.