cellular intelligence (Evolution)

by dhw, Saturday, October 24, 2020, 09:12 (1490 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Talbott and I certainly agree bacteria act intelligently and he wonders where that intelligence came from, without answering. He does not support you by leaving the issue as an open question.

dhw: Great to hear that you now agree that bacteria act intelligently, instead of your previous belief that they merely obeyed your God’s instructions, but I’m surprised you’ve forgotten that I also agree with Talbott that bacteria are intelligent, and you’ve also forgotten that I too leave open the issue of where the intelligence came from, though I do add that it may have come from God. Please tell me where Talbott and I differ.

DAVID: We all do not differ except I believe God provided the intelligent instructions.

Then we are poles apart. Talbott and I are arguing for the autonomous intelligence of cells, not for robots obeying God’s instructions.

David: [..] Grudgingly you offer God as possibly the cause because you have no other answer.

dhw: …maybe the cause of life would be the same cause of cellular intelligence: 1) God, 2) chance, 3) some form of panpsychism – all equally difficult to believe in. That is why some of us are agnostics. I may have said this before.

DAVID: I know of your struggles. Forget (1) God. Just realize a designer is required. That is how I left agnosticism.

dhw: You moaned that I had no other answer. You had forgotten the other two answers.

DAVID: I ignored chance and panpsychism as inventions not worth answering.

Not much point in telling me I have no other answer and then ignoring the other answers!