Complexity of synapse transmission (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, January 18, 2018, 14:01 (2293 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID's comment: As usual we see cells/neurons using protein molecules to present information. No full brain function required. Individual cells are not intelligent in and of themselves. They are programmed to act intelligently.

dhw: You seize on the material means of presenting information, but prefer not to ask how cells/neurons came to perform such actions in the first place. If I tell you that humans use biochemical processes to pass on information, will you tell me this means they are not intelligent in and of themselves?

dhw: To expand the range, and link up with your post on DNA repair: with all new defects and diseases and threats, cells must respond. Despite every success, there is a massive failure rate. 99% of all species have died. This means the cells/cell communities did not find a solution. When humans come up with means of destroying bacteria, bacteria die and die and die, but eventually they find a solution. So did your God programme some to fail and others to succeed? Or might it be that eventually the successful ones worked it out for themselves?

DAVID: Conflating species failure with molecules carrying information is an interesting debate subterfuge. Cells are not an equal to humans. I don't know if God dabbles in every species failure. We know He uses an evolutinary method to create advances in the complexity of living species, including sapiens.

I did not conflate species failure with molecules carrying information. I expanded the range to link up with your post on DNA repair. Nor have I ever said cells are equal to humans (and I don't know of anyone who has). If you argue that communication through biochemical processes proves that cells are not intelligent, you may as well say the same about humans. The ability to communicate, to process information, to take decisions, to solve problems is a sign of intelligence. You insist that this requires a brain and so any brainless organism that shows such intelligence must have been preprogrammed by your God 3.8 billion years ago to perform these intelligent actions. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but I am pointing out the flaw in your reasoning: the fact that communication and many other cellular activities require biochemical processes does NOT prove that the communicator is an automaton.