[klik99]

Sure, it might not be trig, but in your description there is still calculation (the ball is growing larger at x rate, so adjust my legs accordingly), just not of the self-aware conscious variety. There are really two definitions of 'calculation' that are used interchangabley - one is a) the act of deconstructing into symbols and picking apart, and the other is b) the execution of algorithm.

My point is that 'feeling' or 'muscle memory' is the execution of (super hacky, ad hoc and efficient) algorithm, the big difference between computer calculation and brain calculation being that the brain is far more plastic than the computer. Presumably in an insects mind the 'muscle memory' is hardcoded (deliberately reductionist here), whereas we have a conscious mind that can train and 'program' our unconscious mind.

In your quote, 'we just do it' is ignoring the great complexity of the human mind that can perform complex interconnected tasks with seemingly no effort at all, if it has been trained properly. Replace training with programming, and the parallels are there - graphics programming for instance is a huge collection of hacks and rules of thumb to get something that looks like perspective and light. Like our brain, it's results orientated so it truly doesn't matter if it's not 'correct'.

Now of course the brain and computers are different, but it's incorrect to say the brain doesn't calculate - it just is a lot more unwieldy to program than a computer.