First and foremost single bacterium process information and make decisions about their internal/external environments through the activation, suppression, and regulation of cellular and genetic mechanisms. These mechanisms in and of themselves display intelligent, COGNIZANT information processing. The bacteria “knows” it’s a separate entity. Does that mean it thinks like a human? Of course not. It’s probably not even self aware at all, but it’s still cognizant in a basic and instinctive way like all life forms are. Here are three reasons why you should rewrite your article and admit that bacteria (basically any form of reproducing (living) genetic system) are intelligent, and the intelligence is more fundamental than the intercommunication of many cells.

Second, bacteria have the ability to quite literally take apart and reorganize their genomes under extreme environmental stress. In other words, there is more information in the bacterium than the simple sequences of the genome, there is an understanding of how to make new protein structures and enzymes if the threat of the bacterial population going extinct is high. It is only as a last resort that the bacterium will do this, but they can if necessary.

Third, bacteria don’t belong to species. They are so intimately related to their environment, and so extremely intelligent that they tailor themselves to their surroundings. They search out not only chemical signals in order to communicate and perform “multi-cellular” activities at the colonial level, but they also seek out genetic sequences that aid them in producing novel proteins and enzymes specific to their survival.