Achilles initially went to Troy to seek eternal fame. Self-aware, he wanted all humanity to be Achilles-aware. And, as the story goes, yes, he achieved that fame because we all know who Achilles is, not just the subject of the Homeric epic, but the subject of books and movies. There’s even a tendon in the heel of every human that bears his name. His fame has endured three millennia since his supposed life as the Achaeans’ greatest warrior.
The story Homer tells makes that fame secondary to his wrath, an anger that keeps him from the fight until his beloved Patroclus is killed by Hector. It’s Achilles’ fighting skills and his revenge that enthrall all the storytellers and their audiences. But it is his lasting fame that epitomizes what those who seek an earthly immortality seek. We see that drive for fame in actors, politicians, artists, writers, musicians, and even in pathological killers, all desiring that you remember them because in your memory they live forever.
A wrasse is a tiny fish. Some serve as “cleaner” fish, remaining at a station where other fish come for a cleaning. The wrasses nibble off parasites that plague fish. It’s an interesting relationship: Fish large enough to swallow a wrasse whole float patiently while the tiny cleaners vacuum up their bodies and even the insides their mouths.
It might seem odd to mention wrasses in an essay that begins by extolling the fame of Achilles, but bear with me. A recent debatable study of wrasses seems to indicate they can be self-aware, attempting, it seems, to rub off a spot placed on their bodies that they see reflected in a mirror. * If the wrasses are, in fact, self-aware, the study suggests that the roots of Achilles’ desire for fame might lie deep in the brain.
Self-awareness, which underlies the search for fame, isn’t, however, universal as experiments with other animals reveal. It seems that only our closest relatives, such as the chimpanzees, have self-awareness as we understand it. More distant relatives like monkeys exposed to mirrors respond by attacking their own images. There’s even debate about whether dolphins have the same level of awareness that the little wrasse exhibits.
But evolution is a strange process when it comes to making brains. That self-awareness might lie in a “primitive” organism but not in “higher” organisms might imply that the neurons could be there in the bigger brains but might not serve any survival purpose. Does an organism that never sees its reflection in nature need that kind of self-awareness? Does the deer drinking from the pond not need to know it is looking at itself? Isn’t its concern more with an awareness of predators possibly lurking nearby?
Maybe the little fish aren’t self-aware. They might simply see “another fish” that needs to be cleaned, but they don’t use their mouths in the process; they try to rub off the spot. That seems to be a strong indication of self-awareness. Of course, it would be a stretch to suggest that it is the same kind of self-awareness that we humans have when we seek everlasting fame. Wrasses can’t verbalize like mythical Achilles and storytelling Homer. So, their self-awareness, if they have it, can’t be connected to any desire for immortality.
Every generation of humans has its share of successful fame-seekers, people remembered for at least an ensuing generation or two. But with seven billion or more humans currently inhabiting the planet and a hundred billion former human residents, there are only the rarest few who will be remembered through multiple generations. Buddha, Confucius, Christ, Alexander the Great, Caesar (Julius more than Augustus), Ghengis Khan, Attila, Galileo, and Shakespeare come to mind. But even they and many others that I do not list fail the test of universal fame. Even modern-day warriors given special recognition for their Achilles-like bravery and feats in battle fade from memory. If you are an American, can you name Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or Middle East wars? Heroes are numerous; memories of them aren’t.
Are there degrees of self-awareness even among humans, degrees that vary from recognizing oneself in a mirror to seeking everlasting fame? Am I, for example, more like the wrasse than the presidential candidate seeking office or the Hollywood actress seeking recognition on the red carpet? Am I more like the wrasse than Achilles? We might all profit from asking ourselves about the nature of our self-awareness and the degree to which it drives us to seek recognition by others or lasting fame.
*The study has garnered many comments. See https://www.sciencealert.com/cleaner-wrasse-passes-mirror-self-recognition-test-self-awareness Accessed February 22, 2022.
The story Homer tells makes that fame secondary to his wrath, an anger that keeps him from the fight until his beloved Patroclus is killed by Hector. It’s Achilles’ fighting skills and his revenge that enthrall all the storytellers and their audiences. But it is his lasting fame that epitomizes what those who seek an earthly immortality seek. We see that drive for fame in actors, politicians, artists, writers, musicians, and even in pathological killers, all desiring that you remember them because in your memory they live forever.
A wrasse is a tiny fish. Some serve as “cleaner” fish, remaining at a station where other fish come for a cleaning. The wrasses nibble off parasites that plague fish. It’s an interesting relationship: Fish large enough to swallow a wrasse whole float patiently while the tiny cleaners vacuum up their bodies and even the insides their mouths.
It might seem odd to mention wrasses in an essay that begins by extolling the fame of Achilles, but bear with me. A recent debatable study of wrasses seems to indicate they can be self-aware, attempting, it seems, to rub off a spot placed on their bodies that they see reflected in a mirror. * If the wrasses are, in fact, self-aware, the study suggests that the roots of Achilles’ desire for fame might lie deep in the brain.
Self-awareness, which underlies the search for fame, isn’t, however, universal as experiments with other animals reveal. It seems that only our closest relatives, such as the chimpanzees, have self-awareness as we understand it. More distant relatives like monkeys exposed to mirrors respond by attacking their own images. There’s even debate about whether dolphins have the same level of awareness that the little wrasse exhibits.
But evolution is a strange process when it comes to making brains. That self-awareness might lie in a “primitive” organism but not in “higher” organisms might imply that the neurons could be there in the bigger brains but might not serve any survival purpose. Does an organism that never sees its reflection in nature need that kind of self-awareness? Does the deer drinking from the pond not need to know it is looking at itself? Isn’t its concern more with an awareness of predators possibly lurking nearby?
Maybe the little fish aren’t self-aware. They might simply see “another fish” that needs to be cleaned, but they don’t use their mouths in the process; they try to rub off the spot. That seems to be a strong indication of self-awareness. Of course, it would be a stretch to suggest that it is the same kind of self-awareness that we humans have when we seek everlasting fame. Wrasses can’t verbalize like mythical Achilles and storytelling Homer. So, their self-awareness, if they have it, can’t be connected to any desire for immortality.
Every generation of humans has its share of successful fame-seekers, people remembered for at least an ensuing generation or two. But with seven billion or more humans currently inhabiting the planet and a hundred billion former human residents, there are only the rarest few who will be remembered through multiple generations. Buddha, Confucius, Christ, Alexander the Great, Caesar (Julius more than Augustus), Ghengis Khan, Attila, Galileo, and Shakespeare come to mind. But even they and many others that I do not list fail the test of universal fame. Even modern-day warriors given special recognition for their Achilles-like bravery and feats in battle fade from memory. If you are an American, can you name Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or Middle East wars? Heroes are numerous; memories of them aren’t.
Are there degrees of self-awareness even among humans, degrees that vary from recognizing oneself in a mirror to seeking everlasting fame? Am I, for example, more like the wrasse than the presidential candidate seeking office or the Hollywood actress seeking recognition on the red carpet? Am I more like the wrasse than Achilles? We might all profit from asking ourselves about the nature of our self-awareness and the degree to which it drives us to seek recognition by others or lasting fame.
*The study has garnered many comments. See https://www.sciencealert.com/cleaner-wrasse-passes-mirror-self-recognition-test-self-awareness Accessed February 22, 2022.
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