Quote Originally Posted by Xaqaria View Post
Why not? Math, just like everything else we do, is governed by a set of defined or perceived rules; and the goal is always the same, to get "the answer". The answer is the thing that intelligence optimizes towards.
If math is like anything else, you shouldn't have any problems finding examples of cells doing abstract math.
But you can't find cellular equivalent of, for example, reductio ad absurdum. Math doesn't depend on external stimuli.

Quote Originally Posted by tommo View Post
There's no reason for cells to suddenly become somehow more intelligent when they are combined.
I never said that cells become more intelligent. I said that the network of cells is more intelligent than individual cells. And not just quantitatively more intelligent, there's a qualitative difference. Networks can do things individual cells can't.

Quote Originally Posted by tommo View Post
They are just communicating with each other, that's all. They are still, individually, not 'intelligent'.
Cells that "just communicate" is what our brains are. Again, read previous posts again and you will see that no one in this thread mentioned anything about cells becoming more intelligent individually.

Quote Originally Posted by tommo View Post
It's like if you get a group of mentally retarded people in a room, they aren't going to become smarter, and it's unlikely that they would create something that they couldn't have alone.
That's a really bad analogy. No one is claiming that a group of mentally retarded people is an intelligent system.

Can an ant colony do something individual ants can't do on their own? Yes
Can a flock of birds do something an individual birds can't do on their own? Yes
Can a swarm of bacteria do something individual cells can't do on their own? Yes
Can a brain do something that neural cells can't do on their own? Yes
Can a group of scientists do something an individual scientist can't do on it's own? Yes.

Quote Originally Posted by tommo View Post
Unless you suggest that individual cells can learn from each other.
I'm suggesting that they can. I'm also suggesting that this is called synaptic plasticity and that it's a big part of how brains work.