Natures wonders: using the magnetic field (dhw note) (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, July 01, 2015, 17:55 (3431 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Comment: When this research is finished it will show, I predict, an entire automatic system for behaviour that appears 'sentient'. But does the worm have a degree of mentation, or a degree of unrestricted or independent mentation? Note the worm repeats the same behaviour over and over consistently.-As we have agreed ad nauseam, humans also have systems for behaviour which act automatically once they have been invented. They still have to be "sentient" in the sense that they must respond to their environment, but the question of mentation will only arise if that environment changes. Then cell communities must adapt, might possibly innovate, or perish. The only way one could test whether the worms are capable of mentation would be if they were confronted with obstacles outside the normal range of their experience. Even that, however, may not offer conclusive proof either way, since there is no guarantee that their level of "intelligence" will be high enough to cope. However, so many organisms have now been tested in this way and found to be capable of mentation that I certainly wouldn't put my money on your powers of prediction!