Has this ever happened to you? There’s a fly in the house, buzzing around you, so you go to the cabinet to get the swatter. But as soon as you start wielding it, the little bastard disappears. You set it down, and now he’s back, taunting you.
Ok so obviously flies don’t taunt, but do they have the capacity to recognize, even instinctually, that I’m holding a deadly weapon?
I remember reading this years ago. Part of it is that the distance between the sensor and the bit of the fly’s nervous system that ‘makes the decision’ is much shorter so signals are quicker. Also, some reactions are hard wired and require no thinking time.
For example a bees wings continuously flap unless their legs are on a surface. They don’t need to think about flapping their wings just on jumping up to take off or steering to land.
In humans, it’s possible to measure the time it takes between the brain making the decision to swat and the signals reaching the muscles involved. So unless you are good at estimating where the fly will be then you’ll miss.