¶ Bird’s Nest As A Tool (1)
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When any of the creatures alter the environment in preferred ways it is complementary to their direct regeneration pattern. I call this a tool. So we find the bird making a nest. In order for the bird to be able to fly it can’t have the extra weight of gestating the new bird in its womb. Therefore, it gives out new life very fast, and the egg, with all its nutriment, all its needs from here on, has the right chemistry. It needs one more thing-- energy-- in the form of heat; and the bird supplies that, the mother bird, and the nest insulates it so he doesn’t lose it. So the bird, in order to be able to fly, has to take on very small amounts of energy at one time, as food. The mother bird has to be able to reach, to go from her nest and reach the worm and get back just before the egg gets below the critical heat. At any rate the bird is able to keep on flying in that way. The nest becomes a tool invented and employed by the bird. That’s what I mean by a tool: an orderly alteration of the environment to complement the integral organic process. Man is not unique then as a tool maker. The spider is a tool-maker. Many creatures are tool makers. But man is unique in the extent to which he uses the tools. That is the
