How can one subscribe to the notion that slime mold may contain any intelligence; henceforth any that we can learn from? First, you have to determine the knowledge of the mold in question. This mold can solve mazes, and find the shortest and most efficient ways to the do so. In laboratory studies, physarum polycephalum (slime mold) has been found to exhibit significant cognitive functions including amazing capabilities to remember, learn, and problem-solve in efficiency (TED Talk: Heather Barnett) . Effectively this jelly like protist is a high functioning biological computer, and it has proven time and time again its innate ability to function in elevated processes of the mind; thereby exhibiting intelligence. In essence, the study of this phenomenon has come to revolutionize the way we look at the philosophy of human consciousness, and it’s inherent potential. Views we have come to associate with the functions of intelligence can no longer be limited or relegated to the brain. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were of the philosophy that human nature (related to consciousness) was tied inextricably to the soul, which was transcendent from the physical being, and therefore eternal; implying an innate priori gnosis.
The philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes, a student of the aforementioned great minds, was of the school of thought that "I think therefore I am," when "I" meant the human consciousness, with a sense of dualism. This ‘dualism’ encompasses the distinction between mind-body; that is to say that the mind is a separate thinking thing that is not a physical thing (Professor Rencher) . This particular mold (physarum polycephalum) is a single celled organism that holds millions of nuclei free flowing within its walls, moving like one organism. Existing in the boundary between liquid and solid, there is no brain or nervous system structure anywhere to be observed; instead, this wondrous blob pulses at rhythmically as water moving in waves carries chemicals and causes this motion. Like a balloon, it squeezes itself to inch along at the rate of 1cm per hour, according to the University of California at San Diego. Upon further examination of its seemingly intelligent cognitive behavior, through observation of the experiments conducted by various branches of study, one can begin to see the philosophical conundrum seeded by the conclusions drawn from these results.
One of the most compelling studies was a group of scientists from both Japan and the U.K. collaborating at Hokkaido University (Takagi, Tero and Saigusa) , wherein seeking to explore the intellective abilities of this single-celled amoeboid made a groundbreaking discovery. In this experiment, oat flakes were placed on a wet surface corresponding to cities surrounding Tokyo; physarum polycephalum was set loose in the center. The genius of this slime mold comes in the process of its function, which operates by foraging for food sources by branching out randomly at first, leaving a chemical trail behind it like a slug, which later enables it to remember where it’s been; in essence ‘mapping’ its surroundings. Once a food source is identified (found), this intelligible protist surrounds its newfound resource and proceeds to build a ‘tunnel' that interconnects these nutrients together to form a repository for the organism to siphon and feed upon, and not just randomly; efficaciously. They watched, as the slime mold self-organized, spread out, and constructed networks of ‘nutrient-channeling tubes’ comparable in design, reliability, and cost to the real-world infrastructure of Tokyo's real world train network; after just 24 hours. Can you see the implications? Talented and dedicated (human) engineers, architects, and professionals spent countless hours-on-end designing Japan’s rail system, which is considered to be one of the world’s most efficient. Could it be true that all we had to do was ask the slime mold how to do it?
From an epistemological standpoint, using Descartes' questioning and reason, in-turn derived from the Socratic methodologies, we can postulate many things; yet assume none. If we follow the train of thought that the mind is a thinking thing, one that is not a material thing; by deduction, we can say that the mold we study has a mind of its own, while a brain is not present to be observed. Further, we find in the experiments mentioned the functions of reason and deduction, memory and logic; therefore leading to another meditation: Human Nature. While we can observe behavior and patterns of function in this primal intelligence of the goo, we cannot help but ponder the mirror in cognitive evolution. In theory, we should hold a place on the most opposite side of this spectrum; placing the mold-jelly on the lowest end, and human beings on the highest. In this continuum then, by logic, it must hold true that we are the most advanced living organism on this planet; that we know of. How then can the mold exhibit so many superior characteristics of virtue and morality? Holding right even to the rules of ethics, which we now find almost absent or muted in our human interactional behaviors at present day, is this not an evolutionary defiance?
Shouldn’t our evolution, according to Darwinian Theory, proceed according to the survival of the fittest? Existing in fierce competition for scarce resources, and happening randomly and ruled only by chance? How then can this ‘primitive’ intelligence exhibit altruistic behaviors in complete contradiction to modern human behaviors? Does this provide unequivocal proof of the ‘devolution’ of Human Nature in our present state?
From slime mold we can learn much in the form of re-discovery of the natural human potential built in and present in all of us. The only difference between the one-celled slug and the complex cellular system of the human being, in philosophical terms of cognition and being, is the introduction of the ego and the idea of the self-centered or ‘egotistical' gene. As human beings, we appropriate the ego to the driver's seat, while we relegate our built-in sense of collaborative or biological altruistic imperative to a standby witness, at best. As proof, there are immaculate examples of the ability to override this function, by what we perceive as humans to be extraordinary beings like Socrates, Copernicus, Leonardo DaVincci, Mozart, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Einstein, Tesla, etc. All of these individuals felt like they were part of a ‘collective consciousness' which all interpreted differently (some as faith, others as art, or science), as they felt a call to a higher purpose, an altruistic one—for of the betterment and survival of the species via the anima of both physical and spiritual needs.
At the heart, in the moral of this story, I posit there is a parallel in the stories of my elders. When a grandfather tried to explain the strength of a tribe to a young apprentice he told the young boy, "Bring me that stick over there that is dry and brittle, and then try to break it in half," the boy did as he was asked and proceeded to break the stick easily. The elder now instructed the young boy to gather as many dry sticks as he could hold in the clutch of his hand. He then told him to try and break all the sticks within his grip in half, all at once. As the boy struggled, he said, "Grandfather I cannot even bend the sticks! They are too strong", to this the grandfather replied, "So too is our tribe when we work as one."
In conclusion, I attest that this exercise of the mind has left me excited and renewed with hope, that indeed the Human Condition may yet reach its full built-in potential. It seems that we have experienced in our recent past a modern ‘dark age' period, such as ones from ages in history, during which human consciousness appears to stunt its advancement, and retracts into selfish realms of being. Similar to the controlled experiment, where the slime exposed to periods of stress in anticipation, it stunted its growth--I find the human collective has done the same. Perhaps from these experiments, we can further gain insight into the implication that we are but individual pieces, like the mold nuclei, in the grand collective of the organism, that like the original example we have observed, make a whole.