Walt Disney's boingy brain is undergoing a slow vindication.
Plants can think!
I see them react for sure, and engage in rational competition - pass a sunflower field in the Dordogne morning and see a tableau of Darwinian chaos, the taller guys get all the warmth, their softer cousins squenching in the dark.
MInd in this context does not seem to be a bold cogito, but processing power and adaptability, like a computer.
In another connection plants feel pain.
When a flower is plucked or a leaf segmented scientists can make out with very sensitive detectors the hum of a rudimentary scream. Obviously, plants dont want to be eaten or toyed with any more than you do, so there's another thing to feel guilty about.
No comments:
Post a Comment