this fictional scene introduces a fictional evolutionary-ancestor of humans – phibi – to help the reader think about the origin of the human mind (and higher-cognition), by relatable descriptions of earlier periods in time
Phibi is short for amphibian (though overall, examples may cover many animals. Including: bugs; lizards; birds; other mammals; etc). As such, we might refer to ‘phibi and family’, from earliest ancestral forms, to post human.
scene
Phibi is hungry, they need to eat. To do that they must navigate the world.
phibi has a memory which stores information. generally, remembering is more efficient than re-discovering, because: physical exploration uses more energy reserves than thought/ recall alone, and; a lack of memory renders all territory unknown, which adds significant risk
Phibi walks to something interesting, discovers food, & eats.
they add food to the map
They walk a different way, perhaps a dead end, or something concerning.
they add that to the map
They build a local map of circumstances: resources and concerns; where are the good things, where are the bad things. And this helps them survive.
having a map in your mind to remind you of things is quicker and safer than going out to find everything, all over again
notes
This simple and intuitive scene, however imaginary, describes fundamental circumstances of cognition (and subsequent behaviours), observable in many other species of animal, including those with ancestors common to humans.
While there are many ways in which the overall cognitive circumstances of phibi differ to those of modern humans, there are also necessarily fundamental similarities: human cognition is not some fundamentally dissimilar phenomena to other species; human cognition is a merely a special-case of simpler, earlier forms. Human cognition includes, and is fundamentally shaped by, general cognition.
By describing these fundamental similarities of general cognition, in the context of organismic survival, I hope to demonstrate the relatability of ancestral concerns and behaviours – so that you might anthropomorphise and empathise with our fictional ancestral protagonist.
After all – phibi-is-lovely