Molecular Computing, Distributed Visceral Neurobiology, and Multiscale Basal Cognition: The Architecture of Biological Intelligence

Biological information processing spans engineered molecular circuits, microbial adaptation, tissue regulation and organismal interoception. This article synthesises DNA strand-displacement logic and associative memory, biomolecular phase separation, anticipatory microbial regulation, unicellular avoidance hierarchies, slime-mould dynamics, bacterial electrical communication, and enteric, cardiac and neuro-immune signal processing. These examples challenge a brain-exclusive account of adaptive information processing without establishing equivalence between cellular regulation, cognition and consciousness. Multiscale Competency Architecture and the Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere provide an interpretive framework for relating these scales. The article distinguishes primary experimental findings from formal models, conceptual proposals and a speculative 2026–2040 technological scenario. Persistent planarian pattern changes and artificial-embryogeny simulations motivate research into distributed physiological control, but do not establish general cancer therapies, universal competency thresholds or dated technological inevitabilities. The practical implication is a testable research programme integrating molecular and tissue-level interventions, with explicit evidential, clinical and governance limits. Critical scholarly synthesis. No new experimental data. Distinguishes verified findings, models and speculative foresight; includes explicit evidence boundaries.