There is no difference in kind between human avoidance behavior and avoidance behavior in cellular automaton patterns like gliders — only a difference in complexity.

Rephrasing Dennett’s example, we can identify an ambiguity in Conrad’s argument. Imagine that a baseball is going to hit you in the face—but you dodge it: a clear case of real human avoidance. In what sense was the baseball “going to” hit you in the face? (Dennett 2003: 59) One might say that it was never really going to hit you, precisely because it triggered the reaction of whatever “avoidance system” you have. What is the difference between this avoidance and Life-avoidance? For Dennett, this