Does an Eyespot Apparatus count as an "eye"?
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resolved Nov 1
Yes
No
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A tie! I will consider eyespots as not having consensus. They won't count for or against in the thought puzzle, which may mean an equivalent "foot(spot)" or w/e object will be tossed out, too.

@Stralor I don't understand what "counting them against" would mean. If eyespots aren't counted, that's the same as this poll coming up "NO".

@IsaacKing hmm fair point. it's an abstention rather than an outright NO, but the effect can be quite similar

@Stralor I think the most natural way to abide by this poll result would be to half count them. That is, whatever the estimate is of the total number of eyespot apparatuses in the world, divide it by 2 and use that for the purposes of resolving the market.

"eyespot" is a word modifying "apparatus", so no. In the same way an eyeball spoon (for scooping out eyeballs) is not an eye.

@Shelvacu I think it depends on the way it is modifying the word. "Eyeball spoon" is modifying it by saying that it is a spoon for scooping out eyeballs, but "eyespot apparatus" is saying that it is the apparatus in the spot that functions as an eye. In the case of "eyeball spoon", the "eye" refers to something distinct from the spoon that the spoon can interact with, while in the case of "eyespot apparatus" the "eye" refers to the apparatus itself.

If it does count as an eye then other simplistic movement-like appendages ought to count as feet.

@PupTracy If there is an organelle called the "footpoke appartus" which helps with moving through pushing off against the ground, then I think it is reasonable to call that more of a foot than e.g. the foot of a bed is, and therefore that it should count. However I think various physics factors makes this impractical at such a small scale and therefore they don't exist?

Obviously e.g. a flagellum exists, but 1. it does not contain the word "foot" in it, and 2. it works more like a rotor than a foot.

Without quotes, no. With quotes, yes.

Vs. the eye of a needle, which does not need quotes.

Arguments for yes:

  • Its function is similar to an eye.

  • It contains the word "eye" in it, etymologically related to eyes-as-in-sight and referring to the spot itself rather than to its relation to other things (like a keyer and an eyedropper would be counterexamples to these two things).

  • It is clearly more of an eye than the eye of the storm is an eye, and the eye of the storm has already been defined to count.

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