This post owes its topics to the March 2025 issue of Scientific American magazine.

First, did the reader know turtles like to dance? A scientific study of the sea turtle discovered that when it arrives at a feeding source, it does a little circle dance. [Mariner could only imagine Ethel Merman dancing the boogie.] It turns out turtles have a worldwide GPS in their brain complete with saved addresses and routes. Will Homos ever try to replace it with AI?

Another article stated that the human brain doesn’t use words to reason or gain insight. Mariner and his fellow hearing impaired are pleased about this finding. Externally, those with hearing difficulties are treated nicely but with tolerance, that their thinking is affected by their frequent misunderstandings. Scientific American says ‘no way’. When the brain is rationalizing an issue, it is off in another part of the brain and does not need the skill set that uses the five senses – including hearing. The author offers a few examples to show that words or speech-based articulating don’t have a place in reasoning:

Mariner assumes his readers are of a high quality intelligence that will solve these puzzles easily. If one escapes the reader’s insight, solutions follow tomorrow.

Just like the turtle, and most other creatures as well, the brain is a big place where the senses are just a small part more interested in immediate survival than in pondering the unknown, storing memory and managing a complex living creature.

Ancient Mariner