Conjecture 1.1: Sensor signals are problems to be resolved by the cell

Prove that, for any biological cell, the signals detected and integrated by its internal or external sensors constitute problems that the cell must resolve via its available biochemical and biophysical mechanisms to maintain homeostasis.

Background

The authors advance an evolutionary framework in which cellular sensing—both internal (homeostatic) and external (environmental)—serves primarily to detect threats or deficiencies, thereby generating a “problem” signal. They argue that unicellular organisms, through negative feedback control and metabolic regulation, act to minimize such signals to avoid cell death and restore homeostasis.

Within this framework, sensor signals are not purely informative; they are actionable deviations from set points that trigger intracellular cascades or actuations (e.g., ion transport, exocytosis, motility) aimed at resolution. Establishing this conjecture would ground their model of decentralized sensory learning at the level of single cells.