cellular intelligence (Evolution)

by David Turell , Monday, October 19, 2020, 20:00 (1285 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: The problem is the evidence is in free-living bacteria who are responsible for their own survival and must have that ability. In multicellular organisms most cells are simply cogs in parts of constructive activities.

dhw: Thank you for conceding that single-celled bacteria are “free-living”. This is real progress.

DAVID: No concession: I've always said as free-living they had to be able to take full responsibility for their adaptations, as from Shapiro.

dhw: Yes of course, if they are free-living they “take responsibility” for their adaptations. That is what autonomy means. And if (theistic version) your God gave bacteria the freedom to do their own adapting, why on earth do you think that a community of cells could not have been given the same freedom and responsibility – culminating in human free will?

Our brain with free will plays no role in this particular discussion. The free-living aspect of bacteria REQUIRES the adaptability the have. Multicellularity involves a completely different set of considerations which involves the basic cooperation of all cells in their various organs run by the information in each modified DNA to handle all the myriad of functionality.

DAVID: Bacterial mats do that to a degree, which is probably a step to multicellularity

dhw: Yes indeed, that is the whole point! Free-living, autonomously intelligent bacteria form communities, and that starts the whole process of multicellularity: free-living, autonomously intelligent cells pool their intelligence, thus brancheing out into all the species that have formed the higgledy-piggledy history of life on Earth.

Again I view it as designed by God, well beyond the capacity of cell committees

Under “information flow”:

DAVID: Each cell nucleus is in automatic control of the factory output using its information content.

dhw: It sounds just like an ant colony, with each ant running round performing its particular duty. I agree that the messengers act automatically – their job is to obey. The question is where the instructions come from, and the article suggests that the intelligence lies within the nucleus of the cell. That would also be the source of the autonomous, free-living intelligence of the single bacterium.

DAVID: All of which is supplied by God who created life.

dhw: I have always accepted the possibility that your God created life and supplied cellular intelligence.

I know.