On Intelligence in Cells: The Case for Whole Cell Biology

TLDR

Biology requires a revolution because focusing on molecular details has obscured the whole cell as an autonomous organism. The paper models living cells as coordinated yet autonomous entities, argues that cells possess intelligence and act independently of the brain, and calls for whole cell biology to become the central focus of biosciences. Living cells within the body are modeled as coordinated but essentially autonomous entities. The study shows that cells can make decisions and act independently, that neurons think within themselves, and that the brain functions as a community of such intelligent cells rather than a supercomputer.

Abstract

Biology needs revolution. All my adult life, I have been lost with admiration for the achievements in molecular biology and genetics, and I have come to know many of the main proponents. Yet there is an alternative aspect: in studying the minutiae, we have lost sight of the whole cell as organism. Living cells within the body are modelled in this paper as coordinated but essentially autonomous entities. We shall see how independent cells in nature have remarkable abilities to make decisions and take constructive action, which correlate with the definitions of intelligence.We are taught that the brain controls everything that goes on in the body, yet in this paper, we discover that most of the body's cells are invisible to the brain and are indifferent to its regulation. We encounter a novel model of the brain in which the neuron is viewed as an ingenious entity that 'thinks' within itself. The brain is not a 'super computer' but an entire community of them. We shall set the reductionism of molecular biology and the elementary mechanisms of genetics into a more realistic perspective and will recognize that the cell as organism matters above all. In future, whole cell biology should become the focus of the biosciences and the intelligent cell lies at its heart.