Intelligence & Evolution (Evolution)

by David Turell , Sunday, November 24, 2013, 19:29 (4015 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: SHAPIRO: This remarkable series of observations requires us to revise basic ideas about biological information processing and recognize that even the smallest cells are sentient beings.
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> http://shapiro.bsd.uchicago.edu/2006.ExeterMeeting.pdf
> http://shapiro.bsd.uchicago.edu/bacteria.html 
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> DAVID: Same use of sentient. I know what he means from his book.
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> Perhaps you should read the article instead.-I looked at his abstract:-"bacteria continually monitor their external and internal environments and compute functional outputs based on information provided by their sensory apparatus. Studies of genetic recombination, lysogeny, antibiotic resistance and my own work on transposable elements revealed multiple widespread bacterial systems for mobilizing and engineering DNA molecules."-You are cherry-picking. This clearly shows thre are a multiplicity of organized systems to be used by the plans in DNA.-> dhw: "The selected examples of bacterial "smarts" I have given show convincingly that these small cells are incredibly sophisticated at coordinating processes involving millions of individual events and at making them precise and reliable. In addition, the astonishing versatility and mastery bacteria display in managing the biosphere's geochemical and thermodynamic transformations indicates that we have a great deal to learn about chemistry, physics and evolution from our small, but very intelligent, prokaryotic relatives."-Supports me!!! It is all chemistry and physics!!!
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> dhw: Nowhere in this article have I found a single mention of the word automaton. The nearest is the following: "......conventional wisdom is an extension of the mechanistic views that came to dominate biological thought in the early years of the 20th Century." His article is opposed to this conventional wisdom. Another of your supporters letting you down?-Not at all. What he is describing are the epigentic mechanisms that push evolution as described in his book. His statement is exactly on the money, based on my knoweldge of the material in his book. The ID folks love him.