What are instincts?

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   lovetherainposted 8 years ago

   What are they?
   
   Where did they come from?
   
   Do humans have instincts
   
   Do plants?

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      wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Instincts.  Hard wired responses to the environment.  A completely useless answer, but all I have - it will be interesting to see what others might suggest.
      
      Where did they come from?  The actions of evolution, along with everything else that makes up life.
      
      Plants?  No, although they do have automatic responses (petals opening, for instance).  I would not call that an instinct.

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         lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         How is an instinct transmitted genetically from a parent to an offspring? How is it "hardwired"?

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            colorfuloneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            DNA .

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               lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               And DNA does this how, exactly?

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                  wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Explain what each atom in DNA does and you will have your answer.  So far we're a long, long ways from that.

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                     lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     Exactly. we barely know how dna works.

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                        wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Remember, I said the answer wasn't much good.  But that isn't a reason to invent an answer, something that makes us feel good but has no discernible connection to reality.

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                           lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           Transmission by dna IS an invented answer. It's a just-so story.  Yes I know your not the one who said it.

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                              wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                              But it's the best one we have.  DNA exists.  DNA controls our minds and bodies.  It isn't too unreasonable to think that it controls the instincts produced by that mind/body.

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                                 lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                 DNA controls our minds? What scientific study proves that?

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                                    wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                    It controls (with the environment) what nerves go where.  That's your mind.

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                                       lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                       That doesn't make sense. Say I have the instinct to nurse my baby? What do nerves have to do with that? How does an "urge" and also "knowing" come out of that?

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                                          wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                                          Presumably you mean mental urges, not physical.  Without those "urges", the species will die, so they exist.  Or we would not exist as a species.
                                          
                                          Nerves have to do with it because your brain (mind) is composed of nerves.  It is what controls every action of your body, from your heartbeat to moving your arm to the urge to feed a baby.  And the placement, interconnection, number, etc. of those nerves in your skull are controlled by your DNA (and to a lesser extent the environment).

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   Instincts refers to animals only according to Online Dictionary.
   
   Instincts:
   an innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli.

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3. 81

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   Humans are regulated according to the presence and action of hormones. Are animals too? If so, to what extent do hormones involve instincts, (in animals.)
   
   Hormones:
   "a regulatory substance produced in an organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action." D
   
   PS Sap is mentioned! Does this indicate that trees have instincts?

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4. 81

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years ago

   Q. Are instincts hard-wired into the nervous system AND the fluid system? Or just the nervous system.

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