Understanding the emergence of microbial consciousness: From a perspective of the Subject-Object Model (SOM).
Journal of Integrative Neuroscience January 1, 2017 J Shashi Kiran Reddy, Contzen Pereira
Microorganisms display intelligent behavior that resembles consciousness, possibly arising from quantum-mediated mechanisms in cytoskeletal structures such as microtubules, which may perform quantum computation. This paper hypothesizes that proto-consciousness emerged in primitive cytoskeletal systems within archaea, bacteria, and eukarya during the pre-Cambrian period. Using the Subject-Object Model (SOM) of consciousness, the authors argue that proto-consciousness or sentience, computed via these structures, drove microbial intelligence—from single-celled to collective behaviors—as an adaptive survival mechanism. The increasing complexity of intelligence, cytoskeletal systems, and adaptive behaviors supports a Lamarckian evolutionary framework, where quantum-mediated proto-consciousness progresses toward full consciousness as described by the SOM.