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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (9133)	9/28/2010 5:35:17 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

"To follow the "arguments" of the writer, cabbages must "jump", "feel" and "love" too?? How does this person have the sheer nerve to assert (without any attempt at evidence) the extreme proposition that cabbage cells "jump" and "love"? Do cabbage cells love their enemies, as well? Do they love foreign cuisine--and do they, in fact, love "jumping"??? I would like to know and I feel assured that Noreen would have the answer." I didn't follow the author's arguments to that sort of assertion, and don't believe she intended her arguments to be extended to assert cabbages jumping, feeling, or loving. The passage was a summary of a book she has written which provides the supportive evidence. I haven't read the book. "A cabbage cell is a mathematician? Is this a fair way to discuss a serious topic? An onion cell is an artist--a sculptor? It goes outside of itself and delights in creating mathematical sculptures for the sake of artistic enjoyment?? The idea of delighting in or finding artistic enjoyment is an obvious stretch on your part. The author seemed to be refering to the accuracy by which cells are able to calculate complex operations and impliment them. Not by using thought processes of course but where a dynamic sort of ongoing calculation is clearly taking place. "The words "select", "choose", and "wanted" are all out of place here. Cells do have needs wrt cell operations and an unfulfilled need represents a want. Cells do make selections on several levels. "Certainly, the subject of cell "intelligence" is a worthy topic but I don't think Noreen contributes to our understanding with her anthropomorphic and gratuitous references to their little sculpting "hands" and their quick, ready, and loving minds. I wonder what part of the cell is the thinking part?? Surely not in their little hands or their little jumping feet?? Or their loving little hearts?? She takes licence with her metaphorical terms to bridge the concept of intelligence for people limited to thinking of intelligence as a high form of brain process. If you think that is unnecessarily cutesy I can understand but I also see how she is able to make her point that way. Some scientists use adaptation as an indicator for intelligence in living things. In plants, the mechanism responsible for adaptation is signal transduction. Plants don't have a brain or neuronal network, but reactions within signalling pathways may provide a biochemical basis for learning and memory. "I have a deep respect for biological science and I find the cellular make-up of life to be fascinating. I don't wish to demean the legitimate mystery and profound and intricate complexity that puzzles and delights humanity, by sullying it with the vapid, vacuous, and anthropomorphous spewings of this fairy child to whom language is a mere balm and unguent. And if Noreen is your real name, Less...then I am even more disappointed..." I did not find her approach so distracting.