[MD] -elitist ideas

[Case]

[Case to Platt]
Personally, I think the fact that you are willing to ascribe not just value
but value judgments and sentience to single celled organisms and electrons
is clear evidence that Pirsig overestimated his audience's powers of
discernment.

[Arlo]
Well, Case. Since I ascribe value-experience to single celled organisms and
electrons, I guess you can lump me in with the "overestimated discernment"
crowd. Just out of curiosity, if not "value", to what do you attribute the
amoeba moving away from acid? If the amoeba can't distinguish Point B as
being any better than Point A, why move? Or, if you're moving, why stop?

[Case]
That's a fair question but what do you mean by value-experience? Are you
including value judgments and sentience as part of the value-experience
package?

An amoeba is a complex system that moves toward some optimum state of
balance with its environment. Any change that disturbs the pH balance
sufficiently will cause an amoeba to alter its position. In fact the
"values" in question, those being pH, can probably be measured and specified
to a degree sufficient to account for behavior of healthy amoebas. 

Viewed in terms of value-as-preference or aesthetic judgment, one could as
easily focus on vinegar's preference for an amoeba free environment.
Vinegar's tolerance for amoebae could also be measured by introducing
amoebae into various pH values of diluted vinegar see how much vinegar is
needed to realize an environment free of amoebae.

I'm guessing the values would be equivalent whether measured in pH or amoeba
corpses per second.

Do amoebae react to changes in their environment? 
You betcha. 
Do they respond in ways that are more than the sum of their biochemical
constituents? 
Uh, maybe, but not by much and certainly not enough to call it judgment or
sentience.

[Arlo]
(Clarification question, do you believe only "man" experiences "value"?)

[Case]
No but I think "experience" required a nervous system sophisticated enough
to encode memory.