Interesting things that 'keep physicists awake'
The one that, well, doesn't keep me awake (nothing does :), but makes me wonder about sometimes is not really a physics question but it is this: how much intelligence is there in us subconsciously versus consciously? How much is there in other species as well?
Here is where my question comes from: so very much of our body exists and continues working and flourishing without us ever thinking about it. We heal ourselves, our heart keeps beating, on and on and on. This happens in the natural world too with species (and even in between species). It happens in such weird ways, as Jessica pointed out yesterday, that little caterpillars eat milkweed and then instinctively molt and change into butterflies. Do they know what they are doing?
Where is this line between 'instinctual knowledge' and learned knowledge and can it be broken? I think in rare cases we have seen it done through meditation and whatnot (when monks are able to slow their heartbeat down to almost nothing)...
