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Originally Posted by Cougar
I don't follow this at all. Does the "memory" you're talking really just mean "inheritable"? Species evolve when some small inheritable genetic variation or mutation in an individual causes a small physical variation that just happens to benefit that individual's survival and/or reproduction.
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It seems to me that animals possess a repertoire of inborn behaviors. Most of these behaviors are designed to help the animal survive. The animals continuously adjust and modify them to meet the requirements of the environment by learning.
When a task is learned that helps the animal do better and this "task" becomes an innate behavior that is "inheritable" by its offspring it is called "phenotypic plasticity" James Mark Baldwin (the ability of an organism to adjust to its environment during the course of its lifetime.)
"Thus a behavior that was once learned (the first step) may in time become instinctive (the second step)"
this in itself could be considered a "memory" and would help explain the evolution of any given species.