90 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”4.3 A Bigger Question
What is most thought provoking about microbes is the sheer size of these
puny beings. Take bacteria for instance. A million of them can barely make
up a visible dot on this page. We humans are several trillion times their
body size, and our brain functions with 100 billion (1 × 1011 ) intercon-
necting neurons. Compare this to an amoeba or stentor, which does not
even have a nerve fiber and an excitable membrane to propagate electrical
impulse. Yet with such paltry equipment, the microbes, like us, are capa-
ble of carrying out some of the most critical functions of life — the expres-
sion of self through food seeking and avoidance of danger. The question
is, do microbes possess a rudimentary form of awareness and willfulness?
H.S. Jennings, a noted biologist, gave the following perplexing statement:
“We do not usually attribute consciousness to a stone, because this
would not assist us in understanding or controlling the behavior of
the stone. ......On the other hand, we usually attribute consciousness
to the dog, because this is useful; it enables us practically to appre-
ciate, foresee, and control its actions much more readily than we
could otherwise do so. If Amoeba were so large as to come within our
everyday ken, I believe it beyond question that we should find similar
attribution to it of certain states of consciousness a practical assistance
in foreseeing and controlling its behavior. Amoeba is a beast of prey,
and gives the impression of being controlled by the same elemental
impulses as higher beasts of prey. If it were as large as a whale, it is
quite conceivable that occasions might arise when the attribution to it
of the elemental states of consciousness might save the unsophisticated
human being from the destruction that would result from the lack of
such attribution. In such a case, then, the attribution of consciousness
would be satisfactory and useful. ...... But such impressions and sug-
gestions of course do not demonstrate the existence of consciousness in
lower organisms. Any belief on this matter can be held without conflict
with the objective facts. All that experiment and observation can do is to
show us whether the behavior of lower organisms is objectively similar
to the behavior that in man is accompanied by consciousness. If this