MadSci Network: General Biology |
I'll use a computer analogy to clarify. Suppose you have two computers with the same identical hardware. If you try to run the exact same set of software on them, they should behave identically (that is, the way they process information is identical). On the other hand, two different computers (say a Mac and a PC) will not handle the same software identically, even though they may have the same amount of memory, processing speed etc., simply because their hardware cannot, by the way it is structured and organized, perform the exact same processes. I imagine that genetically identical creatures, if the entire set of their experiences were identical, would also behave identically. Likewise, I would think that if they each had been given a different set of experiences, that they would still process those experiences in the same way (that is to say, that the MOST BASIC set of processes that occur (at least those that are NOT shaped by experience) to convert sensory stimulation into thoughts and ideas, would be similar in the same way among genetically-identical creatures that would set them apart from genetically-different creatures of the same intelligence. In the words of the computer analogy, two identical computers, running completely different programs would still be distinguishable, in the most basic processes involved in running those programs that would set them apart from two nonidentical computers of the same processing power. Is this true?
Re: Will identical clones, given the same set of experiences, behave the same?
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