"Here is the link to the experiment: [SNIP]
That only raises more questions than it answers. Other than this one author's claims, I can find *no* other reference to such "experimental results". Nor is it even described as any sort of controlled test. It sounds as if someone (the author?) did a one-time test (or is he just describing a "thought experiment"?) wherein:
a) an amoeba ingested a grain of ink and spit it out,
b) and then later it didn't do the same when it "could" have.
From just the sparse description given, amoeba "memory" and "decision-making" is hardly a confirmed finding -- equally possible is the following less revolutionary explanation: The first time the amoeba was "hungry" (and thus experimentally "ate" something near it), the second time it wasn't. Or the second time it failed "catch the scent" of possible "prey". Or the second time it was "sick" from contact the first ink particle. Etc. etc. "
I would like the link to this experiment. I've been nosing around and haven't found it yet, so I thought you'd oblige. As a microbiologist, especially one with more than a passing interest in protozoa, I's like to see it.
There is no experiment (at least not one that has been published). Apparently this anecdotal evidence was taken from an internet forum: Link.
For whatever its worth, the observation that the amoeba moved toward and phagocytosed the bead is mundane. The molecular pathways for this have been worked out in pretty good detail and does not in any way invoke the need for "consciousness" or any magic.
The other observation where the author claims is an example of "memory" is something that would be necessary to see the primary data (if there is any). Was this repeatable? Was it observed in several different protozoa? Using different substrates? etc.
Nevertheless, even if the additional experiments were to fail in duplicating a "thinking" or "memory" on the part of the amoeba - there would yet remain the "will to live".
This same "will to live" exists in all kinds of life forms - from bacteria to whales. It is also a collective will in some species, such as ants and bees. It is cooperative among the molecular machinery (cardiovascular, neural, etc.) required to sustain an organism such as man.
The "will to live" is the thrust of my preceding posts about a field-like property (being universal wrt space/time) which must exist in addition to the physical laws and constants relative to biological life to explain what we observe.