“I think, therefore I am.” Descartes would probably turn in his grave if he knew that today some scientists apply this concept not only to human beings, but also to the individual cells that compose us. Research on cellular consciousness It is in fact dividing the scientific community, raising fundamental questions about the very nature of life.
Imagine your body like a galaxy of 30 trillion cells, each potentially endowed with its own primitive form of consciousness. These tiny biological agents would not simply follow genetic instructions to the letter, but would make decisions, solve problems, collaborate. A microscopic universe of intelligences that extends far beyond the confines of your perception. And the most shocking fact? When you die, some of these cells may continue to “live” in a different way.
The third state of cells
We are born, we live, we die. End of story. Or so it seemed until recently. A growing body of research is challenging this simplistic view of the life cycle. Peter Noble e Alex Pozhitkov, two American researchers, have recently detailed a surprising phenomenon observed in the “xenobots“, multicellular organisms designed with the help of artificial intelligence.
These little “biological robots” display a disturbing autonomy: are cells that decide to take on roles that are completely different from those for which they were genetically programmed. It is as if an orchestral musician suddenly decided to play a different instrument, and did it well. Xenobots would therefore form a “third state” of life, neither alive nor dead according to traditional criteria, but something completely different.
Experiments with human cells, dubbed “anthrobot“, exhibit similar behaviors. There is something deeply disturbing about all this, isn’t there? Imagine that right now, in your body, billions of cells could have some sort of primitive consciousness. And after you die, they might… continue.
Cellular consciousness or just adaptation?
“The organism as a whole no longer responds as it used to, but subsets of cells are active, making decisions and solving problems,” he says. William Miller, evolutionary biologist and physician, co-author of the book The Sentient Cell. According to Miller, these findings demonstrate that “the fundamental unit of biological agency is the conscious cell.”
Wait a minute. Conscious? The word sends shivers down the spine, especially when applied to the microscopic entities that make us up. Michael Levin, biologist of the Tufts University whose lab built the xenobots, argues that we humans are “incapable of recognizing intelligence when it is extremely small or extremely large.”
Consciousness is a notoriously elusive term, whose definition can change across fields of study, context, or even over time.
But not all scientists agree. Lincoln Taiz, biologist of the University of California, argues that these phenomena have been known for decades. When cells are removed from their original context, they can develop in anomalous ways. “When a herbivorous insect secretes hormones into plant leaves, causing growths to form, is that also a ‘third state’ of life?” he asks wryly.
The future is cellular
Consciously or not, cells will play a major role in the future of medicine. Imagine personalized treatments created by your own cells, avoiding dangerous immune responses. Or tiny biological “robots” that navigate your body to repair damaged tissue.
Miller believes we should learn to cooperate with cells: “We are learning to do what cells do, and we will cooperate with them if we are smart.”
The theory of cellular consciousness also challenges Darwinian concepts such as “survival of the fittest.” Cells must work together to succeed, so a more accurate motto might be “I serve myself best by serving others.” A lesson we could perhaps learn from.
I like to think that, in a sense, we are never truly alone. We are a community of trillions of entities, each with its own role, purpose, and perhaps (who knows?) its own tiny spark of consciousness. A perspective that makes life (and even death) much more interesting than we ever imagined.
