God's Natures wonder: Cell conducts anti-viral warfare (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, November 05, 2016, 14:26 (2938 days ago) @ dhw

David's comment: Another 'how did it develop' problem. Does the Cafeteria do this to protect others of its type? Or is it simply a byproduct of getting killed. And if that is true how did it develop and get passed on to subsequent generations. Death doesn't pass on bacterial inheritance, only cell splitting to daughter cells does that. God did it?
DAVID: No comment so far on this. It is a very precise problem. If you, a single-celled organism die in a defense mechanism, how is it fixed into evolution for daughter cells to carry if the only way to pass on inheritance is splitting onto two daughters? This has got to be God as the causative agent!

dhw: You will have to help me on this, because I may have misunderstood your comment. What is passed on? If it’s the defence mechanism – i.e. the altruistic self-sacrifice – it’s behavioural inheritance, and any form of behaviour that is advantageous could be passed on by cell memory (Sheldrake’s “morphic field” for the Cafeteria?). Where did cell memory come from? Maybe God.

The point I'm making is at the starting point of this species. The first individuals with this capacity die in the process of defending themselves. How do the dead pass on the ability, if dying in the process of defense? The origin of this species must involve a large number of individuals at the start, all with this ability to explain the start. Some are attacked and die. Others then survive and reproduce. This speciation must be a saltation.

dhw: What is of great interest to me is the altruism, which we also find very strikingly in other social organisms like ants.

Altruism requires making judgmental thought, that is what you are implying. In this organism, no way. It is automatic.