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9 Mind, Life, and the Universe
She says, “Not just animals are conscious, but every organic being, every [selforganizing] cell is conscious. In the simplest sense, consciousness is an awareness of the outside world.” The philosopher Maxine Sheets-Johnstone explains
why this must necessarily be so: She says that bacteria, which are able to sense
their environment and move in response to what they sense, must have some
form of proprioceptive, or body consciousness. They respond in accordance
with what they “feel”. This point of view is now in the mainstream of biological
thought. It has given rise to a new discipline known as Cognitive Biology. This
is a seismic shift in traditional belief. 5
Another scientist who has done cutting edge research on this topic was
Barbara McClintock, who received the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology and
Medicine for this work. It is known today that bacteria have informationprocessing and cognitive abilities: Though they are small in size, they exhibit
enormous complexity and sophistication in their behavior. Most remarkable
is their ability to change their own DNA when needed, and to take possession
of DNA components of other organisms and transform it to their own uses.
“Bacteria are master cell biologists and possess both the know-how and the
technology they need to seize control of cell growth, metabolism and structure
from the most highly developed multicellular organisms.” The mystery is how
they hold onto that knowledge, and how they know precisely what to do in
order to use the knowledge to accomplish their goals. 6
It is essential to keep in mind that bacteria do not have nervous systems, and
therefore do not carry out logical operations on discrete data. Their knowledge
is not given to them as propositions, nor do they communicate (internally
and with others) by using anything like a language having syntactic rules. (It
requires an advanced nervous system to learn analytic concepts.) Yet, no matter
how you cut it, bacteria know things—and are able to use that knowledge to
do things. The regulatory mechanism of bacteria has been called a nanobrain.
Nobody knows how that knowledge is stored in the bacterial “mind”. As
explained, the knowledge is not analytic: It must be Gestalt knowledge, existing
in the form of “feeling”. How can a bacterium “feel” in the absence of a complex
brain? Here we stand at the absolute limit of what is known about living
creatures. Since we have absolutely no idea what feeling is in any creature, we
cannot say if bacteria have it or not. Something like feeling could be carried
in the complex chemical milieu of cells, modulated by the continual ebb and
flow of electrolytes and other chemicals. No experimental work has been done
on that question, so we may try to use logic to tease out a plausible scenario.
Single cells would not have the equivalent of analytic knowledge because it
requires complex brain circuits to develop. Early animals likewise are unlikely
to have had the benefit of analytic knowledge because it must have developed
9 Mind, Life, and the Universe
She says, “Not just animals are conscious, but every organic being, every [selforganizing] cell is conscious. In the simplest sense, consciousness is an awareness of the outside world.” The philosopher Maxine Sheets-Johnstone explains
why this must necessarily be so: She says that bacteria, which are able to sense
their environment and move in response to what they sense, must have some
form of proprioceptive, or body consciousness. They respond in accordance
with what they “feel”. This point of view is now in the mainstream of biological
thought. It has given rise to a new discipline known as Cognitive Biology. This
is a seismic shift in traditional belief. 5
Another scientist who has done cutting edge research on this topic was
Barbara McClintock, who received the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology and
Medicine for this work. It is known today that bacteria have informationprocessing and cognitive abilities: Though they are small in size, they exhibit
enormous complexity and sophistication in their behavior. Most remarkable
is their ability to change their own DNA when needed, and to take possession
of DNA components of other organisms and transform it to their own uses.
“Bacteria are master cell biologists and possess both the know-how and the
technology they need to seize control of cell growth, metabolism and structure
from the most highly developed multicellular organisms.” The mystery is how
they hold onto that knowledge, and how they know precisely what to do in
order to use the knowledge to accomplish their goals. 6
It is essential to keep in mind that bacteria do not have nervous systems, and
therefore do not carry out logical operations on discrete data. Their knowledge
is not given to them as propositions, nor do they communicate (internally
and with others) by using anything like a language having syntactic rules. (It
requires an advanced nervous system to learn analytic concepts.) Yet, no matter
how you cut it, bacteria know things—and are able to use that knowledge to
do things. The regulatory mechanism of bacteria has been called a nanobrain.
Nobody knows how that knowledge is stored in the bacterial “mind”. As
explained, the knowledge is not analytic: It must be Gestalt knowledge, existing
in the form of “feeling”. How can a bacterium “feel” in the absence of a complex
brain? Here we stand at the absolute limit of what is known about living
creatures. Since we have absolutely no idea what feeling is in any creature, we
cannot say if bacteria have it or not. Something like feeling could be carried
in the complex chemical milieu of cells, modulated by the continual ebb and
flow of electrolytes and other chemicals. No experimental work has been done
on that question, so we may try to use logic to tease out a plausible scenario.
Single cells would not have the equivalent of analytic knowledge because it
requires complex brain circuits to develop. Early animals likewise are unlikely
to have had the benefit of analytic knowledge because it must have developed