Bacterial Intelligence? (General)

by David Turell , Sunday, January 25, 2015, 22:03 (3378 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: The question here is whether bacteria are or are not “intelligent”. Under “Panpsychism” I have listed attributes that seem to me (and the participants in this discussion) to denote that they are. It may be controversial, but Shapiro calls for open-mindedness, and at the same time says categorically that bacteria are self-aware, which you have accepted.-The difference again in our thinking is that I attribute an enormous amount of intelligent information to the bacterial genome which can automatically guide the bacteria to make the proper adaptive responses to stimuli. Thus they look intelligent but are actually acting more as automatons. The effect we observe is the same but the mechanism is more controlled than the implied free-lance appearance. 
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> dhw: And my point is that the intelligent handling of enormous amounts of information by living organisms denotes intelligence, not automatism.-I've explained my difference above. They use implanted information.-> 
> dhw: Over and over again I have emphasized that I am trying to understand how evolution works. I have conceded that life and the mechanism for invention and autonomous decision-making may or may not have been designed by your God. That is not the focus here. I am offering a view of evolution occurring through the autonomy of organisms.-Again, what I mean by semi-autonomous is the organisms are limited or allowed to cerate small modifications of existing structure and processes. Which, seems it me, is what you are describing in the other thread.