[MD] Distinguishing Levels (Individual level)

[Gene M]

Platt wrote:
>
>
> Laws are introduced by a single individual and later adopted by others.
> "Someone has to be first."


I agree that intellectual patterns begin in an individual At First. But as
soon as they stat spreading those ideas, then a collective has that idea. It
seems clear that Intellect  isn't purely individual. I generally need
someone else to bounce my ideas off of to really be able to refine them. If
I were alone, my ideas would be very weak. Intellectual patterns exist in
both individuals and the collective at once.

Animals don't think, societies don't think, only human individuals
> think.


Well, this strikes me as a silly thing to say. First off, humans are
animals. So clearly some animals think. Secondly it doesn't seems
justifiable. There are a lot of other animals that think. Easiest examples
being primates and dolphins. I recently read an article in which it is
stated that researchers have discovered that dolphins actually give each
other names. Certain patterns of sound indicate single individuals in the
group, that's pretty amazing. That's heading towards showing self-awareness.
And of course all the primates who know sign language, are able to
manipulate symbols, they even created a primitive economy where chimps were
given tokens for tasks completed, which they could exchange at a machine for
bananas. Some tokens gave more bananas than others, and monkeys soon learned
to do the jobs that paid the most.

You're assertion that "animals don't think" seems weak to me.

-Gene