Not enough humans?

Recently I was watching PBS, NOVA scienceNOW, on a Friday night I believe. Yeah nerd right? So anyway Neil deGrasse Tyson who hosts the show, and who I think is really great at breaking down the whole astro-physics-space-time-string-theory thing, introduces a story about bacteria. The story is about Bonnie Bassler aka the Bacteria Whisperer. Mrs Bassler has discovered some really cool ways in which bacteria communicate. She says that there are 600 types of bacteria on your teeth each morning! Yuck. (err no honey its not the morning breath, its the billion bacteria). And that the bacteria communicate with each other using some molecular compounds. And that these compounds are used by all types of bacteria. The interesting thing she showed is that in some bio-luminescent bacteria, they don't begin to glow until there are enough of them in place. Too little and they just sit there, but after some magic number of generations have grown and are 'talking', they all begin to glow at the same time. Its this 'talking' that makes you sick. So now she's on a hunt to find ways to limit their capacity to communicate and reduce our dependence on harsh antibiotics. Its a completely fascinating topic; as bacteria go anyway.

So it got me wondering, what if there aren't enough humans in the world 'talking'? What if we're all just waiting around for the human population to get large enough that something clicks and we begin to do our equivalent of 'glowing'. I know we're supposed to be all about reducing the human population growth. But maybe there's more for us out-there, we just need more of us.

I was also wondering if we are covered by so much bacteria, is it possible that we are not affected by them in some imperceptible ways? A recent article in the Economist talks about the recent science on the brain and the questions raised on Free Will. If bacteria make up so much of what we are, and they communicate, is it possible that also affect who we are? If the brain is as easy to manipulate as described in the article and our personality along with it, perhaps we are more creatures of a bacterial mind than we think.

I also recently watched a documentary on one of the DVDs that came with my Ultimate Matrix DVD set. Thanks Trini-wife! Anyway the material got me excited about the Matrix again, they show that there was so much more philosophy about Free Will and other concepts in the Matrix. Much more than I realized.

What do you think about Free Will?