Cognition-Based Biology (CBB) is a radical restructuring of biological and evolutionary development as a comprehensive alternative narrative to 20th century Neo-Darwinism and its critical deficiencies. Our work substantiates that cells are conscious agents and have been since life's origin. Consequently, biology represents a holistic continuum of intelligent natural learning, propelled by the coordinated interactions among cognitive agents at every scale and extending uninterruptedly for billions of years. This unification is possible because the co-authors are the originators of each of the underlying conceptual facets that will underpin this volume. Consequently, we are able to combine our peer-accepted ideas into a unique synthesis that recasts biological and evolutionary development into a modern frame.
By combining multiple unique biological concepts into a single, comprehensive evolutionary narrative, this book articulates an entirely new approach to biology, which will become the foundational work in the field in the 21st century. Biology urgently requires this overhaul.
Darwin Reappraised: The Past is Prologue.- Cellular Sentience:
Biomembranes, Bioelectric Cytoskeleton and Charged Biofields.- The Flow of
Biological Information: Information Fields and the Intelligent Cell.- The
Cellular Senome as an Electron-Based Bioelectromagnetic Bioplasm.-
Intracellular and Extracellular Vesicular Communication.- Prokaryotic Cells
and Endosymbiotic Origin of Eukaryotic Cells.- The Microbial Sphere.-
Collective Life: Holobionts and the Symbiotic Imperative.- The Sources of
Biological Variation: Natural Viral-Cellular Engineering in Cognition-Based
Evolution.- Post Neo-Darwinian Biology: Selection and Genes Reconsidered.-
Natural Learning in Biological Systems.- Cellular Problem-solving:
Exaptations, Epigenetic Adaptations, and Phenotype.- Sexual Reproduction:
Protist-Like Sexual Cells and Early Embryogenesis.- Speciation and
Extinctions: Taking a Look Under the Hood.- Unicellular, Collective, and
Extended Minds: From cells to the Biosphere.- Agency and Purpose in
Evolution: Natural Learning and the Biosphere.- The impact of Cognition-Based
Biology on Synthetic Biology.- Ethical Dilemmas Within Cognition-Based
Biology: Every Opened Door Raises New Questions.- Conclusion: The Planetary
Cycle of Life Bioecological Interconnectedness Through Distributed
Intelligence.
William B. Miller, Jr., MD, attended college and medical school at Northwestern University and was a physician in active academic and private practice for nearly 40 years. During those years, a series of observations on the patterns of infectious disease and cancer sparked intense interest in cells, the microbiome, and evolutionary biology. His current focus is the intelligent measuring cell and how that cognitive agency propels biological and evolutionary development, a focus that stands a world apart from his original medical practice. In his words, " I'm still amazed that this new passion emerged, and to this day, I cannot offer a specific reason for this dramatic shift in interest. This kind of transition between two disparate fields is very uncommon." He is the author or co-author of dozens of scientific papers and eight books, all focused on various aspects of the biology of our planet.
Frantiek Baluka, Ph.D., was born in 1957 in Trnava, a town in what is now Slovakia. He is responsible for founding two scientific journals, Plant Signalling & Behavior and Communicative & Integrative Biology, is the editor of the book series Signalling and Communication in Plants (Springer Verlag), and has authored and co-authored over 160 scientific papers. Most of his research focuses on plant neurobiology and, as this volume shows, cellular cognition and sentience. He recently retired from lecturing at the University of Bonn, where he continues as a research Group Leader at the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology. His current focus is on plant anesthesia, plant sensory biology, especially plant vision based on ocelli in the root apex and leaf surfaces, and developing the concept of the cellular senome.
Predrag Slijepevi, Ph.D., graduated from the University of Sarajevo. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1992 and worked at the Universities of Cambridge and St. Andrews before taking his current position at Brunel University of London. His research is divided into studies of chromosome biology, the biology of telomeres, and the exploration of applications in the biology of aging and carcinogenesis. His theoretical focus is on the philosophy of biology and evolutionary biology. Interestingly, his original training was in veterinary medicine along with a program in philosophy, which was interrupted by the war in Yugoslavia. His most recent book, Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life, was recognized by the Nautilus Book Awards foundation as a winner in the 2024 Ecology & Environment category.
Arthur S. Reber, Ph.D., was a true 'rara avis', a man with a unique professional pathway and remarkable skills. His original training was in experimental psychology at Brown University. His primary research was on "implicit learning," in which knowledge is acquired independent of awareness of either the process or the products of learning. This research on the cognitive unconscious, in partnership with his academic colleague and wife, Rhiannon Allen, expanded across many subdisciplines in the social sciences, significantly extending into over twenty distinct areas. He authored the Dictionary of Psychology (Penguin), which has been translated into six languages and gone through 4 editions. His career was spent at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of CUNY, and he was a Senior Fulbright Professor. He authored or co-authored over 100 scientific papers, was a Fellow of the AAAS, Sigma Xi, the APS, the Fulbright Foundation, the Psychonomic Society, and the Golden Key Society.He was an avid gambler, he also wrote scores of articles and some popular books on the subject, including Gambling for Dummies. He died on September 2, 2025. He was 85.
