Horizontal gene transfer: DNA transfer mechanisms (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 15:27 (2348 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID’s comment: Horizontal gene transfer is a non-Darwinian way to advance evolution. It looks built-in to drive the process of advancing evolution.

dhw: Yes, it fits in perfectly with the idea that evolution advances through the cooperation of cells. It was Lynn Margulis who pioneered the idea that symbiosis was a major factor, and it is worth noting that she was also a firm believer in bacterial intelligence, and did not consider consciousness to be synonymous with self-awareness:

https://www.astrobio.net/.../bacterial-intelligence

AM: Can you explain how you view bacteria as being intelligent?

LM: If you look up consciousness in the dictionary, it says, "awareness of the world around you," and that’s because you lose it somehow when you become unconscious, right? Well, you can show that microorganisms, or bacteria, are certainly conscious. They will orient themselves, they will work together to make structures. They’ll do a lot of things. This ability to respond specifically to the environment and to act creatively, in the sense that that precise action has never been taken before, is a property of life. Of course, it has to be moving life, or you can’t tell. You can’t tell if a plant is thinking, but in organisms that move, you can tell their intelligence.

From the Britannica:

Consciousness, a psychological condition defined by the English philosopher John Locke as “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind.”

It depends on the authority you quote. I'm referring to human consciousness, and no other organism has it!