Natures wonders: ant group actions; individuals programmed (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, August 06, 2018, 15:28 (2299 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Most likely an automatic electrochemical series of reactions from interior to exterior, passed from contiguous cell to contiguous cell.

dhw: Yes, communication entails passing information from interior to exterior by automatic electrochemical means. We humans do it all the time. But one should not confuse the means of communication with the reasons for communicating. Even so-called simple single-cell organisms may need fairly sophisticated strategies of communication because they have fairly sophisticated ideas to communicate as a consequence of their autonomous intelligence!

DAVID: Again it is either or. The hungry cells will die if they don't signal. They fell hungry and send the signal. A binary response to a definite hunger stimulus, no intelligence involved.

dhw: There is always a reason for communication. You concentrate on the automatic processes involved in the act of communication, as if they precluded any autonomous thought behind the need for it. The bacteria had a problem. They communicated with each other in order to find a solution to their problem. I suggest that if they didn’t know they had a problem, they would not have communicated with each other.

They 'knew' they had a problem because, like us, they recognize hunger as an automatic stimulus. Do you think about your automatic responses, or is breathing thoughtful?