Immunologist Nick Hall has indicated that he believes there is a resemblance between immunological and behavioral memory. The brain stores information pertaining to our everyday experiences. In similar fashion lymphocytes can "remember" encounters with various microorganisms, so that if they are encountered again the body can mount a stronger attack. Hall also draws a parallel between behavioral and immunological memory, since both reach their peak during puberty and fade simultaneously during older age. As conscious memory fades, the immune system's capacity to remember its own tissues and previous invading infections also falters, which accounts for an increased incidence of auto-immune diseases and tumors.⁷²

The amount of information contained within any living cell, particularly one from a higher mammal, is awesome. Only a very small fraction of the coded information within a DNA molecule is ever expressed. The external form of a living structure (phenotype) can be as simple as a white blood cell yet embody, as coded information (genotype), all of the complex history and potential of almost everything that has ever existed within a given species.⁷³

The evidence presented above, which represents examples of intelligence operating within all animal and plant forms, is not meant to be exhaustive. It should, however, illustrate the concept of how intelligence permeates all life, and should also provide additional insight as to how it represents a spectrum or continuum of all life forms.

Netscape CTRL + D MAC Command + D

page 9.11

End of Chapter