dhw: You just happen to know that corvids are intelligent and bacteria are not. -DAVID: Anyone with a brain can do a bit of thinking. Bacteria?-Isn't it amazing that experts like Margulis, Shapiro, McClintock, Albrecht-Buehler etc. never thought of that! Or could it just be that there are different forms of intelligence, and bacteria have different means of thinking? -It's also interesting that in your correspondence with Romansh you continue to refer to NDEs as possible evidence that thought can be independent of the brain. (I'm not dismissing that argument - simply pointing out the inconsistency.) After all, if God exists, one presumes he can think, but does one also presume he has a brain?