I like the tree example, and I think it's quite useful (and fun) to think of dumb and speculative way for the genome to access world concept. For instance, in response to "I infer that the genome cannot directly specify circuitry which detects whether you’re thinking about your family", the genome could:
Hardcode a face detector, and store the face most seen during early childhood (for instance to link them to the reward center).
Store faces of people with an odor similar to amniotic fluid odor or with a weak odor (if you're insensitive to your own smell and family member have a more similar smell)
In these cases, I'm not sure if it counts for you as the genome directly specifying circuitry, but it should quite robustly point to a real world concept (which could be "gamed" in certain situations like adoptive parents, but I think that's actually what happens)
I like the tree example, and I think it's quite useful (and fun) to think of dumb and speculative way for the genome to access world concept. For instance, in response to "I infer that the genome cannot directly specify circuitry which detects whether you’re thinking about your family", the genome could:
In these cases, I'm not sure if it counts for you as the genome directly specifying circuitry, but it should quite robustly point to a real world concept (which could be "gamed" in certain situations like adoptive parents, but I think that's actually what happens)