Any living entity exploits the existing structure and order of its surroundings to ensure its survival and reproduction. Consider a single-celled organism in a pond, on its surface are molecules which can ‘detect’ (are influenced by) the presence of nutrients. There is usually a gradient of the nutrient concentration, so that it is higher on one side of the organism than on the other. The single-celled organism has chemical sensors which can detect this gradient. Biological evolution has programmed it to propel itself in the direction of increasing concentration of nutrient.
An attribute of intelligence is the problem-solving capacity of the system; other important attributes are prediction and memory capabilities. In a primal way both prediction and memory are involved here. The prediction is that, by moving in the direction of increasing concentration of nutrient, more nutrient will be found. This is not something the organism has ‘learnt’ and ‘remembered’ in its lifetime. The memory, evolved over many generations of evolution, is in its DNA.
This is just starting with single celled animal organisms in the pond, at a certain stage in the evolutionary history of plants, more complex behaviour emerged in the form of communication systems among the various parts of a plant, based mainly on similar chemical signals. Suppose an insect damaged some part of a tree, and this led to the slow transmittal of a chemical through the vascular system to its other parts. This triggered a defence mechanism; the making of a toxin or some kind of repellent for the invasive insect?
These are only theories, but we observe these chemical behaviors in 1000's, no millions of species both plant & animal , so again whats your problem? You don't believe in the the tremendous amounts of mass studies in Zoology, Botany, Biology , Paleontology? That the earth & atmosphere & vast seas were always of the same composition and never went thru any changes or there were God's grape vines & Date Palms from the very beginning and Man originally all spoke one tongue?
Stop living such a sheltered life, visit your local Natural History Museum or an Aquarium and think "4,500,000,000" glorious wonderful years! |
