Makes sense

Pointed by Denyse as usual, a preliminary look at a major revision in our understanding of memory and intelligence.

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Typically, the cytoskeleton network provides mechanical support for the cell and is responsible for cell shape and movement. However, the Moffitt researchers noted that proteins from the cytoskeleton are also excellent ion conductors. This allows the cytoskeleton to act as a highly dynamic intracellular wiring network to transmit ion-based information from the membrane to the intracellular organelles, including mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and the nucleus. The researchers suggested that this system, which allows for rapid and local responses to specific signals, can also generate coordinated regional or global responses to larger environmental changes.

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If you scale this up from the membrane around one cell to the membrane around a multi-celled organism, it’s the same. At a very early stage in forming the embryo, the outer and inner and between layers start to take on different characteristics. The outer layer, the ectoderm, is where the nervous system originates. The inner layer, the endoderm, becomes the digestive system and other internal organs. The between layer, the mesoderm, becomes bones and muscles.

So it makes sense that the outer layer of one cell, the cytoskeleton, acts as the nervous system.

If it holds memories as a distribution of charge at various points on the surface, it would automatically sense motion wrt the earth’s magnetic field, which most cells are known to do. It could also telepathically sense what nearby cells of the same type are thinking, and perhaps ‘keysort’ when it senses a charge-spot pattern similar to its own.

(Oops, didn’t intend the pun in the title!)