> Plasmodium has no brain or nervous system, yet it can perform brain-like, intelligent functions.
well, no. i would say it can performs some simple algorithms.
> It knows itself
this is useful, performing those algorithms, and so will be selected for.
> It is able to learn and anticipate.
anticipate? don't know about that.
> It can learn, for example, to avoid something potentially harmful.
bacteria do this, via very rapid natural selection.
> It makes decisions
not in the sense we do.