Life's biologic complexity: Automatic molecular actions (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, October 11, 2016, 18:47 (2748 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: These are all examples of scientists using the automatic reactions of these amazing molecules. This is how cells act automatically. The scientists have no ability to train molecules to do anything. Molecules do what they can do, no more, no less.

dhw: Why are you equating molecules with cells? How many thousand molecules are there in a cell? Of course the actions of molecules and also of cells are largely automatic......Drawing attention to the automatic behaviour of molecules or even of cells has absolutely no bearing on the question of whether single-celled organisms and/or cell communities including human beings (in the context of free will) have the autonomous intelligence to solve problems, master new conditions, take decisions, and possibly even come up with innovations.

I presented this to show how automatic cells can be because their molecules have marvelous automatic actions. I've also shown that bacteria have more than one way to perform a function, and if one does not work can start to use another. It is then possible, even probable, to conclude that single-celled animals can react autonomously to all stimuli. And they do come up with simple innovation through epigenetic changes, but species do not change in all the studies done so far. Why I presented automatic molecules should be obvious.