Bacterial Intelligence? making decisions chemically (General)

by dhw, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, 12:26 (1813 days ago) @ David Turell

QUOTE: “Diversity, or heterogeneity, of chemotaxis may provide an evolutionary advantage for the bacteria, since although those skilled at chemotaxis can quickly locate and exploit locally stable food sources, their sister cells less affected by the attractant are more likely to venture into new territory, where they may encounter additional food sources in a constantly changing environment.”

dhw: Yep, that’s how evolution seems to work: individuals differ, and their different responses to changing conditions trigger new behaviour which, in more complex cell communities might even lead to innovation.

DAVID: Are you sure the behaviour is 'new' or simply different among different individuals. After all we are seeing is a study about variations in the same bacterial species.

If new conditions arise (e.g. new drugs to be combated), then of course the behaviour is new. If the species remains the same, that is adaptation. And I have suggested the possibility that in multicellular organisms, the same mechanism “might even lead to innovation” and hence evolution.

DAVID: Note that this study shows chemical decisions caused by underlying variations in bacteria of their genetic makeup. It adds to my evidence as to why antibiotic resistance develops. The 'intelligence' of their decisions is all in their individual makeup.

dhw: That is precisely the argument used by materialists, who claim that our intelligence and “free will” depend on our individual material makeup. Science can only observe the actions and reactions of materials, and of course it is possible that both bacteria and humans are merely the product of those materials. However, if you regard information-processing, communication, decision-making etc. as attributes of autonomous intelligence, you can also argue that both bacteria and humans are intelligent regardless of the source of that intelligence. Indeed, it appears that the majority of scientists today favour the concept of bacterial intelligence, but of course that does not mean you are wrong.

DAVID: Our intelligence and free will have to do with our consciousness. What a stretch of comparisons! You suggest by your comparison bacteria are somehow conscious.

Do you really think I am stupid enough to propose that bacterial intelligence is on a par with human intelligence? On Saturday 27 April I replied to the same point: “Nobody is even suggesting that bacterial intelligence is on a level with or even of the same kind as human intelligence.” You know perfectly well from your own experience with animals that there are different LEVELS of intelligence. You usually like to equate consciousness with self-awareness, which is perhaps why you introduced the word. I don’t, so let’s stick to intelligence in order to avoid that pitfall.