The remarkable ability of neurons to unify toward a centralized self is an evolutionary pivot of far earlier cell communication strategies that first solved problems in navigating anatomical morphospace.

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

• Neurons achieve remarkable centralization through evolutionary reuse of earlier cell communication strategies for anatomical problem-solvinghypothesis0.886
  Brain cognition may be evolutionary extension of collective intelligence mechanisms originally solving anatomical morphospace problems in multicellular organisms.
• The large-scale morphological goals of an organism override and harness the local competencies of individual cells to adaptively navigate morphospace.claim0.811
  Describes top-down control in morphogenesis.
• Morphogenesis constitutes basal cognition because it requires information integration and coordinated action characteristic of problem-solving in anatomical morphospace.claim0.806
• Morphogenesis is an instantiation of collective intelligence, exhibiting anatomical homeostasis and autonomous problem-solving in morphospace.claim0.804
  Reframes developmental biology as collective cognition.
• Cells exhibit generalization in physiological space, recognizing novel stressors as members of familiar classes to deploy transcriptional solutions.hypothesis0.798
  Predicts that cells can categorize perturbations and mount appropriate, not just hardwired, responses.
• Organismic individuality can be separated from genetics: integration and collective action occur in non-neural systems.finding0.797
  Empirical findings from developmental biology (Manicka & Levin, Lyon et al.) supporting mechanistic basis for individuality independent of genetic determination.
• Evolutionary algorithm-designed Xenopus cell clusters exhibit fast self-motile behavior purely from evolved novel shape and tissue distribution, not neural control or genomic information.finding0.796
  Empirical result from Kriegman et al. 2020 demonstrating that 'reprogramming' occurs without altering DNA software
• Morphogenetic and behavioral problem-solving share deep algorithmic and mechanistic symmetries, with bioelectric networks serving both developmental and neural functions via evolutionary pivot.hypothesis0.794
  Testable prediction that insights from developmental bioelectricity can illuminate behavioral cognition and vice versa; grounds portability of neuroscience tools across tissue types.