More Denton: Reply to David (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, August 16, 2015, 16:49 (3178 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: For all we know, the absence of a brain might be an evolutionary advantage, since the bacterial form of “intelligence” has enabled them to survive in so many different environments. -DAVID: Or the onboard intelligent information given to them by God. -In that case God must have preprogrammed bacteria to cope automatically with virtually every environmental change you can think of, even though he didn't plan the changes. (“Better put in a programme to cope with crashing asteroids...you never know.”) Wouldn't it have been simpler just to give them the intelligence to work it out for themselves?-dhw: What does my interest in panpsychism have to do with it? I do not see myself as qualified to reject the findings of bacteriologists. I'm pleased to hear that you are now prepared to consider the possibility that ants know what they are doing.

DAVID: I recognize that ant colonies do some very intricate and complex social behaviors. Since we do not fully understand the development of instinctual behavior, your point is possible that some of it may have developed by experimentation. But what we see now is worker ants, as examples, doing automatic repetitive behaviors-Once more: I am suggesting that all intricate and complex “behaviours” originated through the intelligence of cell communities, and when the behaviours, designs, strategies, lifestyles, and innovations of all kinds proved successful, they were passed on and became automatic. I do not believe that every generation of weaverbird redesigns the nest. However, these cell communities retain the ability to think for themselves when new problems arise. Ants are a wonderful illustration of this, because they work out new strategies when faced with new enemies.