Immunity: detecting dangerous bacteria (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, November 27, 2017, 15:24 (2554 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: The brain does not supply information to the soul. […]

dhw: I always thought the senses provided the brain with information, which for a dualist was then passed on to the soul. So apparently nothing we see, hear, taste, touch or smell has the slightest influence on the thoughts we think.

The senses do supply sensory information. I was unclear and referring to knowledge and memory within the soul.

DAVID: Boy, are you confused. Show me the bacterial equivalent of a brain! There isn't one neuron in sight. I've explained your afterlife point above. And I've explained my use of 'brain thinking' is shorthand so I don't have to type so much in repeated explainations, and you know it.

dhw: Show me the “soul”. And what neurons would you expect to find in a soul? If your dualistic hypothesis is correct, the soul/consciousness is immaterial, and therefore does not need a brain. So according to you, consciousness can exist without a brain, but it cannot exist without a brain.

That is what NDE's show! See my post today on Egner and dualism.

dhw: However, for your information Albrecht-Buehler (who does not subscribe to intelligent design, and therefore presumably does not believe in a soul), offers the following
G. Albrecht-Buehler’s Cell Intelligence Website
www.basic.northwestern.edu/g-buehler/cellint0.htm

"Cell movement is not random.. The cortex consists of autonomous domains ('microplasts') whose movement is controlled by a control center (centrosome). Microtubules mediate between the control center and the autonomous domains."

I accept his description and this can be seen as automatic programming.

dhw: Of course you do not take his work any more seriously than that of experts like McClintock, Margulis or Shapiro. Here’s a great quote from McClintock:
“Every component of the organism is as much of an organism as every other part.”

I take them all seriously, but reinterpret their conclusions.

dhw: And here's another hypothesis: if something learns by experience, alters its own DNA in order to cope with changing conditions, looks intelligent, and acts intelligently, then maybe it is intelligent.

DAVID: And we know it can be programmed to look intelligent.

dhw: Please tell us what organisms we "know" your God has programmed to look intelligent without their being intelligent.

As part of my body my kidneys act intelligently. Why can't bacteria be seen that way?