Cell Memories (Identity)

by David Turell , Sunday, July 27, 2014, 16:06 (3771 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: Why do you separate the genome from the cell/cell community?-I don't separate it. I know that each cell type has DNA, and in each cell type it is modified for that cell's function. DNA is different all over a complicated body which has many organs, each of which has many automatic and complicated functions. These cellular functions are done automatically and are built to adapt to challenges. Donate a kidney to a friend and your remaining kidney enlarges to handle the load, automatically. The cell communities contain in their DNA the information to accomplish just that adaptation. Donate the left lobe of the liver and the right lobe enlarges in response. All automatically.-> dhw: If cellular intelligence lies within the genome, that's fine with me. (Albrecht-Buehler thinks the control centre is the centrosome.) All I ask is acknowledgement that although much cellular behaviour is undoubtedly automatic once an innovation has established itself - as is clear from the work of our own cellular communities - Margulis, Shapiro, Albrecht-Buehler & Co. may be right when they say cells are intelligent, sentient beings. This provides us with a vital clue as to how evolutionary adaptation and innovation may have taken place.-Fine. Our difference is conceptual. The cells have intelligent information in the genome which drives their responses to changes. We really don't know what drives evolution in a clear concept. Random mutations are mostly deleterious. Epigentics, which implies whole organism responses is more likely, but where I disagree with you is I believe that information in the genome provides response capacity, and the cells automatically use them. This is a layered concept. A bacterium does this all in one cell body.