Rapid evolution or epigenetics? (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, February 28, 2011, 19:38 (5017 days ago) @ dhw

David's post of 26 February at 05.21 under "AI and wiring of the brain" has alerted us yet again to the astonishing complexity of the brain. I was particularly struck by a quote from Jean Goodwin ... though I don't know why the observation is limited to brain cells ... and wonder if we can't expand it. That's why I'm shifting it to this evolutionary thread. The quote:-"Each point in the brain, each brain cell, contains all the genetic information necessary to produce the entire organism. A brain cell is not a switch. It has a memory; it can be subtle. Each brain cell is like a computer. The brain is like a hundred million computers all connected together."-Can we perhaps link this to the problem of innovation in evolution (new organs, new species)? The quotation suggests to me that every living organism is a society of organisms. We are the macro-being, composed of billions of micro-beings in which each cell acts both socially and individually (like bees and ants). If each cell has a memory and can be subtle, why should not each cell or, even better, each collection of cells also have the potential for building on its memory? We know for a fact that different parts of our body ... each agglomeration of cells ... perform immensely complex tasks of which we are not even conscious; they direct themselves. Apparently groups of cells in some creatures are also able to transform themselves in response to environmental changes, whereas less "gifted" cells can't, and the species dies out. What I'm getting at is that cells themselves may come up with new combinations that result in new organs and faculties ... not by chance, as in random mutations, and not solely by reaction (epigenetics), but also by experiment. And every so often a cell or a group of cells comes up with something special, which it passes on to succeeding generations for further development. This would be neither chance nor pre-programming, but a form of creative intelligence. Instead of the selfish gene, perhaps we should talk of the intelligent cell. Is this any more far-fetched than some of the theories we're being bombarded with?