Entry made September 06, 2004 : Flys

I as sitting at the table the other day eating some quesadillas and watching TV when a fly came into view. The fly was doing what flys do best, they fly. It buzzed around swerving all over the place when I came up with an interesting thought. I thought, "What makes that fly turn right?"

After this initial question, many similar followup questions popped up. What makes a fly turn right instead of left? Is there something in a fly's brian that allows the fly to decide that it wants to go somewhere? I began to think about it. It all comes down to the question of free will and at what point a being posesses it.

There has to be something in a flys mind that makes it choose. I thought first that maybe it was sheer fly food censors. But then I came up with an expirement.

1. Put two pieces of identical fly food side by side.
2. Place the fly some distance away at a point equidistant to both pieces of food.
3. Let the fly go.
4. Record which piece of food the fly goes to, right or left.
5. Swap the right and left piece.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 many times.
7. Use a different type of food and redo the expirement.
8. Repeat entire expirement again with several different flys.

Here's how to interpret the results.

If the fly always goes to one side then the fly doesn't really have free food will. The flys built in fly food censors dictate which piece of food to go after first.

If it appears that the fly goes randomly right and left then it means one of two things. It could mean that the fly has free will to decide which food it wants to eat. But, it could also mean that the fly food censors could somehow distinguish that two apparently identical pieces of food and distiguish that one is more nutritious than the other.

There are many other ways the data might come out and just as many interpretations. Here's the point. What makes a fly tick? This is important because if we know what makes a fly tick, it might provide some insight into what makes a person tick.

At the table when I was watching this fly, I wondered what gives a person preferences. What makes me want one type of food over another? Why do I enjoy watching some shows and not others? Why do things upset me and why do things make me happy?

If I figured out the whys, the whats should fall simply into place. If I knew the whats then it should a lot easier to cheer myself up when I'm feeling blue.