cellular intelligence (Talbott) (Evolution)

by David Turell , Monday, October 19, 2020, 20:07 (1494 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: You cannot disconnect the stepwise development evolving humans from bacteria as one process.
Read Talbott: file:///C:/Users/pacemaker/Desktop/Stephen%20L.%20Talbott.html

QUOTE: "When, then, we reflect upon the incredibly complex, end-directed tasks expertly carried out by vast collections of molecules even in the simplest and most primitive cells, it is natural to call to mind the eons of evolutionary transformation that have led from single cells to our own experience as conscious and willful agents pursuing our own meaningful tasks. Does the human outcome illuminate primordial origins?
"It would, of course, be a fatal error to collapse all distinctions and talk about those early cells in the same way we talk about conscious human cognition and behavior. But the error would be equally egregious if we simply ignored the evident relation and historical continuity between the earliest forms of life and ourselves." (dhw's bolds)

DAVID: Talbott is telling us evolution has produced us as direct decedent relatives of bacteria. And you get all confused by the old and current bushes and what they mean.

dhw: If we are direct descendant relatives of bacteria, so is every other life form that ever lived. That is the theory of common descent, and I really don’t think we need Talbott to tell us that. The quotes could hardly be clearer: he is pointing out the fact that although cellular intelligence is not to be compared to our human intelligence, nevertheless single cells are intelligent! In other words, ALL levels of intelligence are descended from bacterial intelligence. The confusion over old and current bushes is entirely yours, because you insist your God designed all the extinct twigs as part of the goal of evolving (directly designing) us and our bush, although there is no direct connection. Thank you for providing an article in support of "cellular intelligence", to which I have transferred it.

Once again my position is God designed all species and what appears to be cell intelligence is a function of cells following God's intelligent instructions as they act and react.