Defining sentient cells: Cell receptors (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, March 30, 2018, 13:04 (2213 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID’s comment: Note my bold. Cells don't think. They are sentient in that they receive sensory input and automatically compute responses. Please look at the protein molecule on the website as illustrated. Don't think a chance evolutionary process invented that molecule.

dhw: As always, you focus on the chemical processes that precede and/or accompany decisions. That is the only thing scientists can observe. They cannot observe mental processes. If we observe a large organism (= a large community of cells) deliberately solving new problems, we say it is intelligent – i.e. it thinks. Humans are the prime example. We don’t say their molecules are gathering and processing information. If it is a micro-organism, some scientists say they think, and they say that those people who claim they don’t are indulging in “large organs chauvinism”.
I agree with your scepticism concerning a “chance” evolutionary process.

DAVID: Thank you for your skepticism. As for thinking humans, most of what happens every day in their bodies is entirely automatic.

Again I agree. What is not automatic is the power to solve problems, make decisions, cooperate with others – those activities which indicate autonomous intelligence and are to be observed in all our fellow organisms, including bacteria.