Bacterial Intelligence? sensing surfaces (General)

by David Turell , Sunday, October 29, 2017, 14:20 (2361 days ago) @ dhw

QUOTE: "This is an impressive example of how rapidly and specifically bacteria can change their behavior when they encounter surfaces," says Jenal."

DAVID's comment: the disturbed flagellum can easily be seen as an automatic signal to produce adhesin, following intelligent instructions in the DNA.

dhw: And the whole process can easily be understood as a demonstration of how bacteria use their autonomous intelligence to adapt chemical processes to the requirements of new situations.

DAVID: And the study author's abstract says: "Here, we describe a tactile sensing cascade in Caulobacter crescentus in which the flagellar motor acts as sensor."
Simply a cascade [in biochemistry speak]is a series of molecular reactions. It is automatic, not thoughtful.

dhw: Once your automatic faculties have provided you with all the information, you take a conscious decision to respond in a certain way (behaviour), and that decision sets in motion a cascade of molecular reactions as your body implements the decision you have taken. You say the decisions are automatic in bacteria but conscious in humans, but you admit there is no way of telling the difference.

If God is universal consciousness, then perhaps bacteria share a bit of it. More likely they function automatically with the instructions they operate upon. But more importantly the flagellum turns out to be even more irreducibly complex, and even more defies chance evolution. God as designer is the only reasonable answer.