Discuss Daniel Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back

On July 5, 2025, six of us continued our discussion of Daniel Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back. We sorted out the meaning of his dictum of competence without comprehension by looking at examples of animal behavior. Upon spotting a predator, the nesting piping plover would move away from her nest, feign a broken wing to divert the predator’s attention from her nest, and when it chases her, she flies away. After spotting a lion, antelopes would jump up and down, stotting, signaling to the lion that it can run faster than their slower cousins. These behaviors enhance survival, but they are done without comprehension. How can a behavior form without any comprehension?

Dennett proposes four grades of comprehension. The Darwinian creature’s repertoire of behaviors is encoded in its genes. To form a behavior, genes may encode for a step in the many steps needed to complete an action. As those genes mutate, and if the mutations add steps to the behavior that favor survival, the modified genes are passed on to subsequent generations. These changes accumulate until the entire behavioral pattern is formed. Instinctual behavior is programmed entirely by genes. The Skinnerian creature, named after B. F. Skinner, who defined operant conditioning, behaves less rigidly and can shape its behaviors in response to reinforcements or punishments. The Popperian creature, named after Karl Popper, who wrote about the logic of scientific discovery, makes conjectures and refutations to solve a problem. The Gregorian creature, named after Richard Gregory, a pioneer in cognitive psychology, uses thinking tools such as language and mathematics to help form concepts that enable it to plan.

One of us, holding up a can of Pepsi, declared it was alive since it was able to reproduce. When he takes a six-pack off the shelf at a store and returns a week later to find more cans on the shelf, and concludes that the can of Pepsi is capable of reproducing. Rather than take issue with his proposition, others suggested that purchasing a six-pack illustrates the four grades of comprehension operating within us. We are Darwinian creatures that respond to thirst by initiating a search for a drink. We are Skinnerian when we can be conditioned by advertising to choose a brand of soft drink. We are Popperian when we compare various brands of soft drinks and choose which to drink. We are Gregorian when we save money, plan the route to the store, and locate the product on a shelf to purchase.

Information plays a role in the above behaviors, whether arising instinctively or volitionally. The antelope sends a message to the predator about the antelope’s ability to outrun the predator. Information is used in another way by the Gregorian creature. The soft drinks company managers identify what the customer wants, plan its manufacture, make and distribute the cans, and advertise to influence our preference for their brand. They use and manage the many variables involved in producing soft drinks, including accounting for weather that affects the growth of crops used to make the ingredients, and its effects on the pricing of those ingredients. Even the health and safety of the employees working on the production line or part of the supply chain are factors to be managed.

Game theory includes the strategy of how much and what kinds of information to reveal. The plover pretends to be impaired, making her a more enticing target than letting the predator stumble upon her nest. Likewise, in the marketplace, managers must switch from playing chess to poker. They need to limit the amount of information a competitor sees in order to improve their position in the market. Is there a difference between misinformation and disinformation? Can disinformation distort reality, rendering us misinformed and misanthropic?

Information has value, but is there a way to boost its signal above the noise? On a drive from Chicago to Duluth, you are listening to WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR station. When you cross the Illinois-Wisconsin border, the transmission becomes garbled with static and interference, and you experience a reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio. Is there a way to maintain the signal-to-noise ratio without using more energy to boost the signal? Claude Shannon, using the binary number system, formalized the concept of the "bit," short for binary digit, to develop the mathematical foundations of information theory. Using his information theory, Bell Labs found a way to maintain a signal-to-noise ratio without increasing signal strength by using error-correction codes. The same binary code is also used to program computers. When comparing the spikes in the transmission of binary data and neuronal activity in the brain, it provocatively suggests similarities in both hardware and wetware. How do we extract information from those signals to create a map of reality to guide us to survive and even thrive?

We invite you to continue our conversation on Daniel Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds, B105.C477D445 2017, on July 26, 2025, from 2 PM to 4 PM.