bacterial intelligence shown to be DNA driven (Animals)

by dhw, Sunday, October 22, 2017, 13:52 (2349 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: If you think cells can only act intelligently by following your God’s instructions, you clearly believe he is incapable of giving them autonomous intelligence!
DAVID: He is not incapable. He didn't want to.
dhw: So you can see no way that cells might act intelligently other than through your God’s instructions, because although he was capable of giving them autonomous intelligence, you happen to know that he didn’t want to. Whatever happened to science?
DAVID: It is not science. it is analysis. God is most probably capable of doing whatever He wants, is my basic premise. It is possible He has limits as we've discussed, but more than likely what we see is what He wants.

If God exists, I would also assume he is capable of doing whatever he wants. I just don’t know on what authority you can tell us that he didn’t want to give cells autonomous intelligence.

INTERVIEWER: When you talk about the evolutionary intelligence of bacteria, it almost sounds like you think of them as conscious beings.
MARGULIS: I do think consciousness is a property of all living cells. All cells are bounded by a membrane of their own making. To sense chemicals—food or poisons—it takes a cell. To have a sense of smell takes a cell. To sense light, it takes a cell. You have to have a bounded entity with photoreceptors inside to sense light. Bacteria are conscious. (dhw’s bold)
DAVID: I agree that their responses are intelligently planned from info on board.

“Agree”? Her statement could hardly be clearer: the intelligence is their own: they register and process information and use their conscious intelligence to take their decisions. She is NOT saying that God plants the info and plans their responses, which you claim is the only way you can see for cells to act intelligently. So who are you agreeing with?


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