Sushree Sudipta Jena
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So, what does this have to do with things going biologically wrong? Well, we can happily use the term ‘value’ in the context of mistakes if we understand that something can be good or bad for an animal even if it doesn’t consciously value that thing. And that thing can be good or bad even if we don’t value it, either. Normativity can exist, even if we have a poor understanding of what is good or bad for an organism.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysThere is, however, one lingering issue with taking mistakes and biological normativity seriously: values. It’s one thing to say that humans can act in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way, but can we really use those value-laden concepts to describe the behaviour of frogs or bacteria? Those who are sceptical of normativity in biology would say: ‘No.’
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysI can have the goal of climbing Everest long before I ever set foot on the mountain. The same goes for all other organisms. Having a goal means making something real. It means pursuing something – whether that involves seeking food, shelter or a mate – rather than being pushed around in the present by a future state. The goals I am talking about here are those that are hardwired into organisms as drives, tendencies and dispositions to act in certain ways, such as being healthy or surviving. Goal-directedness must be present in the here and now while it aims an organism toward future states.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysBackwards causation (obscure physics aside) is hard for most philosophers to accept – along with the rest of us. Surely, whatever explains the turtle’s egg-laying behaviour must be wholly in the here and now, and a product of past evolutionary processes.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysThis may sound obvious, but the ideas embedded in this definition are complicated and controversial. For some, claiming that the ‘wrong course of action is a mistake’ may reek of teleology, a concept that was virtually banned for much of the 20th century. The word comes from the Greek telos (meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’), which is the classical term for what is now more commonly called ‘goal-directedness’ or ‘purposiveness’. Invoking teleology was a serious problem for 20th-century biologists. In 1988, the German American evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr took issue with the concept because he b…
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysMistake-making is neither limited to organisms nor bound by scale. Mistakes can be made by the tiniest bacteria as well as the largest animals – even whole populations. They can also be made by non-organisms, such as platelets, antibodies and cells belonging to organisms. It is the ubiquity of mistake-making, as well as its potential, that demands an equally broad theory to organise investigation into the phenomenon.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysResearch indicates that dopamine is released during zebra finch singing to keep their song at the correct pitch. With this knowledge, mistake theory can offer some testable hypotheses. According to our definition, a mistake is made only when the ‘departure’ undermines a finch’s flourishing. In this case, flourishing relates to the attraction of mates, which involves attracting enough of the right mates at the right time and so on, possibly over generations. (Flourishing is not merely a numbers game but, for most organisms, reproductive fitness and success is part of what it means for their liv…
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysWhen blood vessels are damaged, the collagen within them is exposed. Blood platelets activate when they are exposed to this collagen at an injury site. However, platelets can sometimes be activated by collagen that appears without the presence of an injured blood vessel. This can lead to thrombosis, with potentially deadly consequences for an organism. And there are many other ways that platelets can get things wrong: the clot they produce must be of the right size and shape to function correctly. Though platelets can potentially get many things wrong, is it possible for blood-clotting systems…
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysThis is where mistake theory begins to make its boldest and most surprising claims: mistakes are made wherever there are living systems.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysMarkers can take the form of receptors or shapes on the surface of the pathogen, which deceive the antibodies. But we also use markers in our daily lives. When you mistakenly take the wrong phone, you are responding to the colour, shape, size or position of someone else’s phone that may mimic your own. People and antibodies rely on markers to act because neither has the time nor energy to carefully inspect the entire target. This is an important but understudied area of mistakes. We still don’t fully understand these markers for action, but through them we might begin to classify the shared fe…
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysWhether avoidable or unavoidable, mistakes are always made. But who or what exactly can make these biological mistakes? As our research team looked closer, we found mistakes that were not limited to single organisms. A collection of organisms can also make a mistake – think of a flock of birds that flies into a skyscraper, or a beached pod of whales. Mistakes can also be made by parts of living things. Some of the most well-known examples involve DNA. Various mistakes can occur in the process of genetic transcription, translation and regulation, leading to cancer, genetic disorders, developmen…
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysDifferent kinds of biological mistakes are similar to each other in that they are all made, but that does not mean they are all exactly alike. One way that biological errors differ is in terms of their preventability: some mistakes are avoidable, others are unavoidable. Broody domestic hens, for example, will try to hatch golf balls or other egg-like objects that are left in their coop. They don’t do this because of some failure or malfunction but simply because they don’t have the perceptual equipment to distinguish eggs from things that look a fair bit like eggs. Their mistake is unavoidable…
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysOne way that biological errors differ is in terms of their preventability: some mistakes are avoidable, others are unavoidable. Broody domestic hens, for example, will try to hatch golf balls or other egg-like objects that are left in their coop. They don’t do this because of some failure or malfunction but simply because they don’t have the perceptual equipment to distinguish eggs from things that look a fair bit like eggs. Their mistake is unavoidable because there’s nothing wrong with these hens. Avoidable mistakes, on the other hands, occur when an organism can act in ways that would help …
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysHowever, once we accept the possibility of biological mistakes, a set of complex problems emerge: what distinguishes mistakes from other kinds of problems? And how do we locate and identify mistakes? Until now, we have discussed only familiar organisms, like birds, dogs and people. Normativity and mistake-making, however, seem to play a much more fundamental role in life on Earth.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysHowever, once we accept the possibility of biological mistakes, a set of complex problems emerge: what distinguishes mistakes from other kinds of problems? And how do we locate and identify mistakes? Until now, we have discussed only familiar organisms, like birds, dogs and people. Normativity and mistake-making, however, seem to play a much more fundamental role in life on Earth.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysIf organisms are bundles of atoms that obey fundamental physical laws, how do mistakes emerge? Alongside everything else in the Universe, we are also influenced by physical laws like gravity, but laws are not all that influence what organisms do. There is something else going on when bundles of atoms become living beings. It is called ‘biological normativity’. Organisms are governed by norms of correct behaviour and, when they depart from these norms, they can get sick, fail to adapt, suffer, die or disintegrate. To avoid such fates, they mostly need to do what is right for them: they need to …
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysThough the theory of biological mistakes involves several technical definitions of what it means to make such an error, the outlines are relatively simple: an organism makes a mistake when it does something that, if not mitigated in some way, will undermine its flourishing. We say that ‘mistakes happen’. But that’s not true. Mistakes are always made by individuals at specific times and places. This means that mistakes are not simply failures or malfunctions.
A new theory suggests mistakes are an essential part of being alive | Aeon EssaysDigital gardening is not just passive knowledge collection. It’s a form of expression and sharing. The goal should be to tap into your network’s collective intelligence to create constructive feedback loops, not to post content that ‘gains clout’ or make you look smart.
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