Bacterial Intelligence? (General)

by dhw, Friday, January 30, 2015, 18:52 (3583 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: .....the issue between us is degrees of autonomy. Researchers claim that bacteria are cognitive, sentient, intelligent beings, whereas you insist that they are automatons obeying instructions. [...] Why must I take your word against theirs?

DAVID: Because I view the issue differently, as I have explained over and over. My ID friends understand this. [...] Bacteria do not direct themselves. They are directed.-You don't need to explain your view over and over again. It is clear. But I have asked why you should expect me to take your word against that of experts in the field who have devoted years of study to this subject and have reached a different conclusion from yours. I'm not sure why your ID friends would insist that God didn't give bacteria the ability to direct themselves, but I will take your word for that. How does their opinion invalidate that of Shapiro, Margulis, McClintock, Albrecht-Bühler and Co.? You might just as well say the Pope agrees with you that God exists, and therefore Dawkins is wrong.-Dhw: [Evolution] HAS to be a continuum in the sense that changes can only take place in living organisms, unless you think your God created every innovation separately from scratch in brand new organisms. [...] No-one has witnessed any such invention. Nor has anyone witnessed God dabbling, and no-one has found the 3.7-year-old divine computer programme for turning bacteria into humans. -DAVID: You are right about the underlying continuum as living organisms evolve somehow.-Thank you. That brings us back to the fact that nobody can explain the apparent jumps. You insist they can only be explained by a 3.7-billion-year-old computer programme or divine dabbling. I offer an inventive mechanism. Darwin offered random mutations. Nobody knows. I wrote: “We can only speculate. Or as Charles Townes would say: “The best we can do is try to find answers to those questions.” He might even recommend open-mindedness.” Sadly, his obituary appeared in today's Guardian. He died on 27 January at the age of 99.