Introducing the brain: general (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, March 28, 2022, 10:47 (753 days ago) @ David Turell

Memory formation

DAVID: Usual distortion of my analogy. The cell has the God-given ability to read and use His onboard instructions. That is exactly what a self-driving car does. Don't deny it!

dhw: It is not a distortion of the analogy, because the quote never mentioned any instructions – only the fact that the car operated “without human involvement”, which for the cell = without God’s involvement, which = autonomy. If you had proposed an analogy in which the car operated on the instructions of humans, I would have said straight away that that is the very opposite of autonomy, as it is in the case of cells doing what they are told to do. Your analogy can be made to fit either theory, so forget it.

DAVID: All of us know the self-driving car runs on a computer program! It is autonomous, making intelligent decisions as required. The initial instructions are purely from humans who designed the programs. Exactly how cells work on God-given instructions.

I really don’t see the point in labouring this analogy. I propose (theistic version) that your God gave cells the intelligence to make decisions and designs on their own, without any instructions or interference by himself. That conforms to the normal definition of autonomy (the ability to make decisions that are not controlled by anyone else). You say that cells are automatons that have no minds of their own and merely obey God’s instructions. Mindless obedience is the exact opposite of autonomy.

DAVID: Cells do not have insight into future needs. Only designing minds do. Fully covered before.

dhw: And answered a hundred times: cells RESPOND to current needs. They don’t gaze into a crystal ball to forecast possible future needs. In some cases, their RESPONSE to current needs and conditions is what enables them actually to have a future. That process is called adaptation.

DAVID: Yes, and adaptations are tiny-step responses only to the immediate need. Erectus and sapiens were prepared for enormous steps into the future.

dhw: I am arguing that cells do not act in preparation for requirements which do not yet exist. They act in response to existing conditions. In all earlier brains, the brain would have expanded, and the same cells would have complexified for every new requirement until their capacity for complexification was reached. Then they would have needed new cells again for the next new requirement. I find this theory considerably more convincing than the theory that whenever the capacity had been reached, your God peeped into his crystal ball and said “In a few thousand years’ time you’re gonna need some more cells to cope with ideas/inventions/conditions that don’t yet exist, so I'll give 'em to you now.”

DAVID: I know your theory. Still, all I see from it is tiny step adaptations for the present problems, never the possibility for true speciation. You are left with magic.

In this exchange, we are discussing your theory that your God added new cells in preparation for future needs, whereas I propose that new cells are needed to cope with current requirements. Nothing to do with cellular intelligence as the designer of speciation, which is dealt with elsewhere.