Introducing the brain: general (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, March 28, 2022, 16:44 (757 days ago) @ dhw

Memory formation

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.

dhw: 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.

But that is exactly what a self-driving autonomous car does! Follows programmed directions. Your 'normal definition' fits only certain forms of automaticity. I see cells as exactly like those cars. Your tortured definitions don't destroy that exact analogy. You've lost this debate.

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.

dhw: 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.

Yep! I propose God for speciation.