Cell Memories (Identity)

by dhw, Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 21:57 (3769 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: The capacity for response is what I mean by intelligence, in the sense that an effective response will require perception and processing of new information, communication between cells and cell communities, and decisions as to how the information is to be used. All that is essential to a “capacity for response”, or - to put it slightly differently - to “intelligence”. If this is in the genome, so be it. Since you have now agreed (under “Junk DNA”) that adaptations and innovations are not preprogrammed, you are effectively saying that the genome provides the intelligence that makes the cell intelligent. I'll settle for that!
DAVID: Thank you. Agreed. All that is left is to agree on the source of the intelligent information in the genome.-Hallelujah! Or are you playing games with me? Let me repeat: you are saying that the genome provides the intelligence that makes the cell intelligent, i.e. the cell is an intelligent being. It is not an automaton. In the context of evolution, now that you have clarified your views on preprogramming, i.e. that adaptations and innovations were not preprogrammed but cells were given the capacity to work out their own salvation (i.e. through their own form of intelligence), I hope you will also agree with Margulis and Shapiro that the key to evolutionary progress has been deliberate cooperation between intelligent, sentient beings. I think this is a huge step forward, as it dispenses with random mutations as a driving force, and instead provides a logical explanation for the prolific inventiveness that has led to the evolutionary bush. As for the source, of course you have every right to believe in a designer, given the immense complexity of the mechanisms that endow the cell with its intelligence and capacity to create almost unlimited life forms.