our very human conscious desire to live, our will to prevail, began as an aggregate of the inchoate wills of all the cells in our body, a collective voice set free in a song of affirmation?
Tho a bit floral, Damasio does raise a fascinating topic. At what level (chemical, biochemical) does this regulation of 'good for me'/'bad for me' begin? A cell membrane creates the first step towards homeostasis. As the ability to imbibe selective nutrients (no small feat in itself) comes online, the organism then begins to make 'decisions', "shall I swim this way, or that way?" The first one to develop the ability to figure out which way to turn, had an extraordinary advantage.
