Mike Frank on the oldest evaluative act: approach and avoidance precede nervous systems
MikePFrank · x · 2026-11-11
In a reply to @mimi10v3, Mike Paul Frank endorses the idea that the oldest evaluative act is moving up a gradient of something good or down a gradient of something bad — approach and avoidance precede nervous systems. He adds that even bacteria swim up or down appropriate chemical gradients.
The exchange pushes the origin of evaluation (a core ingredient of intelligence) back to the simplest life forms, a speculative observation on what intelligence and value fundamentally are.
Related event: Fable 5.2: Approach and Avoidance Predate the Nervous System(2 posts)→
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