Intelligence and Behavior
Many years ago I knew of a man who refused to discuss any subject until the terms to be used were defined. If a supposedly intelligent person behaved in a stupid fashion then the behavior was the defining term – the person was stupid.
If a micro organism behaves in a manner that acts towards the preservation of the individual entity and also the preservation of the species, then that behavior must be defined as intelligent.
If a man decides to wipe out, eradicate a micro organism of the variety Neisseria Gonococcus by the use of antibiotics, then to ensure its survival , the organism mutates into a form that is immune to antibiotics. In so doing it becomes more virulent to man and spreads over the face of the earth. It would seem that in terms of behavior the micro organism is intelligent and man is not.
A further instance of this is the fact that tuberculosis has been traced in dinosaur bones. The dinosaur died out. Tuberculosis survived and by definition is intelligent. Man thought to wipe out tuberculosis and for a while it seemed that this effort was successful. But the micro organism mutated and is now either difficult or impossible to deal with.
Scientists have shown that various micro organisms swap bits of DNA in order to become proof against measures taken by man, against them. Staphylococcus Aureus was a relatively harmless micro organism that was common in the throat of the human race. Under the assault of antibiotics it mutated into MRSA [Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus] a truly lethal organism. In terms of intelligence the organism was intelligent . The men who tried to eradicate it with antibiotics were stupid.
Now we have almost coincident with a so called “vaccine” against AIDS – the appearance of a Super AIDS virus. The AIDS virus has mutated and left the scientific researchers hanging by their fingertips to a cliff. Again in terms of behavior the micro organism is intelligent , man is stupid. It would not be too strong to characterize the behavior as Lemming like.
If a child behaved in the manner defined above it would have to don a Dunces cap and go stand in a corner until it learned some sense. But the people who act in this manner are bigger than children , they have strings of letter after their names and enormous budgets for research , How then do we deal with their inability to learn, their stupidity?.
RE: DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
There was a recent story in the London news. It concerned the removal of Victorian burials from a disused cemetery so that the land could be reclaimed for housing. The job of removing the burials was undertaken by a team of archaeologists.
Among the many skeletons (minus their coffins) that were unearthed, one was not like the others. It lay flat on its back with its head turned to one side. One arm was found clenched under the chin and the other arm was lying across the body. The skeleton's jaws were wide open. It was concluded that this person was probably alive when buried.
In the 1840's when the cemetery was active, many people died of tuberculosis, rickets and cholera. The 'odd' skeletal remains suggested that this person slipped into a coma. Medical knowedge being primitive in those days, and the need for hasty burials because of disease, meant that patients were not afforded the care that they should have had. The result was that death was misdiagnosed and the person was buried alive in his coffin. Those skeletons who 'died' showed signs of TB in the bones.
One archaeologist who was interviewed remarked, 'Looking at the state of these skeletons, and especially the one that was buried alive, makes me thankful for modern medicine.'
The archaeologist who found the prematurely immured skeleton had to leave the site for a few days after suffering acute shock at the find.
Thank goodness for modern antibiotics.
RE: DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
qwerty.
I can see some logic in your argument. Bacteria naturally mutate, they always have. When we use antibiotics we destroy all the targeted bacteria apart from the drug resistant ones. This is a bit like (un)natural selection. The drug resistant bacteria then becomes dominant prompting science to try & find new treatments. I don’t see that as intelligence on the part of the bacteria though, or stupidity on the part of science.
You seem to imply that Staphylococcus Aureus mutated into a lethal organism because of antibiotics (sorry if I read that wrong). Surely micro organisms have been mutating since they first appeared. Long before antibiotics were used.
Science has given us the weapons to fight disease. As new bacteria & viruses emerge or mutate so will new ways to treat them. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 (pre antibiotics) killed up to 40 million in one year. If it had happened just one generation later many of those poor souls may have been saved thanks to science.
tony
RE: DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
Hello Tony,
Yes, this is the message that I was trying to convey in my anecdotal story. Death and disease were rife in the days before antibiotics, and people were so fearful at catching diseases like smallpox that some people were hastily buried. MRSA is a mutant strain of a bacteria found in human throats but it is confined to hospitals where lots of sick people are. Illness causes peoples' systems to be weakened and therefore are open to catch these things. Healthy people can fight them off with strong immune systems.
Bacteria and viruses have evolved through time just like every other living organism.
Love,
Patsy.
xxxxxx
RE: DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
Sorry to disagree with you qwerty, but bacteria do NOT mutate as a result of antibiotics, or any other form of outside human intervention. Bacteria deemed to be of the same type, because they give rise to the same toxin, may have random DNA mutations. Say 99% are of one sub-type and are targetted by an antibiotic. The other 1% just about survive because they all compete for the same 'food pool'. When an antibiotic comes along that is targetted at and destroys the dominant DNA sub type, this leaves more of the 'food pool' for the remaining 1% DNA sub-types. These of course are not subject to the antibiotic and so rapidly multiply. The bacteria, seems to have mutated.....it hasn't...The other sub-types have just become dominant.
Leo
RE: DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
Hello Leo,
I know next to nothing about viral and bacterial morphology, but I would say that certain viruses mutate according to their structre and competition, too. Look at the common cold virus, or the influenza virus, many of which mutate to destructive proportions e.g.'Spanish 'Flu', 'Taiwan 'Flu', 'Tibetan 'Flu' and now the risk from bird 'flu, which apparently, can transmit to humans. None of these viruses have been touched by antibiotics, and yet they mutate with regular impunity.
My feeling is that we all have to die of something and these bacteria and viruses assist in that natural process. However, I do think that we have a better standard of health nowadays thank to our pioneering forefathers. I would not like to return to the days when bubonic plague, smallpox and cholera were a way of life in England.
Love,
Patsy.
xxxxx