Epigenetics of Reproduction in Animals - Building the Most Complex Structure on Earth - page 80

cascades ( Cabej, 2012, pp. 23-24, 39-80 ). Since the processing of the stimulus and
the generation of the instruction take place at a subconscious level, the instruction
has a purpose, but not a goal.
In an adaptive response to the lengthening of the photoperiod, higher temperature,
and so on, many animals in temperate climates display reproductive behavior. These
environmental agents are not instructions to genes; per se , they are unintelligible or
neutral rather than instructions to genes for reproductive behavior and physiology.
Neither sunlight nor temperature can induce the expression of specific genes. Only
manipulation of these environmental data in the nervous system provides them with
meaning, translates them into semantic information, and makes them intelligible to
the genes. This neurally derived information via signal cascades reaches genes in
the form of instructions or commands to switch them on or off. The environmental
data translated into semantic information in the brain are useful and pragmatic to the
organism; the neurally derived epigenetic information represents adaptive solutions
to the challenges posed by environmental factors.
The function of the nervous system in its relationship with the environment
is to structure the environmental data so that they serve as instructions to the tar-
get cells, tissues, and organs. The epigenetic information is produced in a species-
specific language, in a sense that what is “semantic” information for a species may
be nonsemantic or “meaningless” for another. Thus, it is in the nervous system that
environmental data are converted into meaningful information. Thus, the epigenetic
information generated in the course of the processing of the environmental data in
the CNS is specific, as opposed to the genetic information, where the universal tri-
plet code provides its characteristic universality. The amount of semantic informa-
tion provided to the receiver via a signal cascade may be evaluated by the change
in the probability of attaining the desired result before and after the reception of the
information.
The behavior of the CNS in converting meaningless environmental data into
information that is intelligible to its cells and genes can reasonably be character-
ized as a goal-directed behavior (i.e., intended to ultimately adapt the organism to
changes in the environment). But such a statement raises an apparent problem: is
the animal organism aware that it is manipulating the environmental data to pro-
duce information for adapting itself to the changing conditions in the environment?
Obviously, the organism is not aware. But a counterquestion would be: is it neces-
sary for an animal to be aware of all adaptive choices it makes? An amoeba does
not need to be aware that its debris-engulfing routine is necessary for its survival,
but debris engulfing is a clearly purposeful behavior; even when an amoeba corrects
its course to reach a source of food, its behavior is goal-directed. If goal-directed
behavior evolved as early as in primitive unicellulars, should one doubt (or be sur-
prised) that goal-directed behaviors are conserved in higher invertebrate and verte-
brate organisms?
The epigenetic information generated in the CNS by processing external environ-
mental stimuli is intended to adapt the organism to changes in the environment. It is
selectively provided to the cells/organs that have to adapt in the organism alone. The