Lynn Margulis (Introduction)

by dhw, Monday, April 11, 2011, 16:52 (4954 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Read and enjoy. It will make you think:-http://discover.coverleaf.com/discovermagazine/201104?pg=68#pg68-I have, I did, and it does. It makes me think that I'm not quite as bonkers as I might have seemed. Lynn Margulis's theory of symbiogenesis suggests that new species come about through bacteria forming communities. And she believes explicitly that "consciousness is a property of all living cells". On the thread "Rapid Evolution or epigenetics?"*** I've repeatedly suggested the possibility of intelligent cells forming communities and thus creating the innovations that result in new species. This idea dispenses with pre-planning by a UI (though it still doesn't explain the origin of such mechanisms) and also reduces the Darwinian dependence on sheer chance in the form of random mutations. I don't have the knowledge or ability to provide scientific back-up for this theory, but Lynn Margulis does, and if there's enough evidence for her to make her case (which she does in my view very persuasively), I shan't feel that mine is merely the product of my creative imagination. Thank you for this extremely stimulating article.-*** EDITED: e.g. my post of 28 February at 19.38.