David's theory of evolution Part One (Evolution)

by David Turell , Thursday, November 07, 2019, 15:14 (1841 days ago) @ dhw

PART ONE

GEORGE: I don't think I've heard of this theory that "intelligent cells or cell communities" have "their own special form of consciousness" that guides their evolution before, but it sounds rather like reviving elan vital or a form of pan-psychism. It seems to me that postulating such things without proof is unnecessary, since natural selection is adequate.

DAVID: Again, I agree. It is a vast stretch of what is known.

dhw: George has never heard of the theory, whereas David knows all about it and is prepared to dismiss it in favour of a divine 3.8-billion-year computer programme for every undabbled innovation, lifestyle, strategy, natural wonder in life’s history.

I'm not surprised George is ignorant. Who supports your cell theory causing speciation?

For George: you only have to google cellular (or bacterial) intelligence to find a whole host of entries. Scientists such as the Nobel prizewinner Barbara McClintock, Lynn Margulis, Albrecht-Buehler, James A Shapiro, all of whom have spent a lifetime studying cellular behaviour, inform us that cells are sentient, cognitive, communicative, thinking, decision-making beings. When asked why bacterial intelligence was a controversial subject, Shapiro responded: “Large organisms chauvinism, so we like to think that only we can do things in a cognitive way.” A couple more quotes picked up at random:

Brian J. Ford: It is argued here that the essential processes of cognition, response and decision-making inherent in living cells transcend conventional modelling, and microscopic studies of organisms like the shell-building amoebae and the rhodophyte alga Antithamnion reveal a level of cellular intelligence that is unrecognized by science and is not amenable to computer analysis.
(I would suggest that science is becoming increasingly disposed towards recognizing cellular intelligence.)

John Lieff: The Emperor of Cells – How intelligent are Cancer Cells?
Microbes have abilities to make decisions, communicate, and solve problems.
While microbes appear to have a type of cognition, the neuron has been observed to be vastly more complex with its own intelligent activity, an entire civilization by comparison to a microbe.[/b]

The bold comment makes sense.