[betty boop]

Is a bacteria conscious? Is it alive? Obviously life is necessary of consciousness as we know it — but consciousness is not necessary for life.

Yes. And yes.

Life and consciousness accompany one another. Where the first is found, at least the rudiments of the second are found, too.

Scientific studies actually bear this out. Based on experimental findings, it appears that bacteria are not only "social animals" (so to speak), but they demonstrate the rudiments of learning in their behavior.

[allmendream]

A bacteria is not conscious. They are not animals, let alone “social animals”. Their only “socialization” consists of molecular signals that directly trigger other molecular signals.

A bacteria makes no decisions. Either a response is molecularly triggered or it is not. There is no “learning”, but there is evolution.

A bacterial population subjected to a novel antibiotic doesn't “learn” to overcome the antibiotic - either they are of a genetic variation subject to the antibiotic or they are not.

That is natural selection of genetic variation - not learning.

The only way a bacteria “learns” is through subsequent rounds of evolution - like how a bacteria “learned” to digest nylon by mutating and further mutating the gene for an esterase enzyme until it was an enzyme that efficiently metabolized nylon.

Learning implies choices based upon knowledge.

A bacteria has no choices or knowledge - only molecular interactions.