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Are plants conscious? Are they intelligent? The debate goes on... | Phytl Signs

Written by Carrol Plummer | Jul 10, 2019 11:16:07 AM

Following recent articles in the New York Times and the Guardian on the subjects of plant consciousness or plant intelligence and the passionate debates on Twitter we wanted to capture and share a great summary of various viewpoints that Guillame Lobet shared on his twitter account (@guillaumelobet).

Whilst most people think that plants are intelligent far fewer think they are conscious.

Miranda Haus (@HausMJ) provides some insightful comments on why she is not yet convinced that plants are intelligent.

 

And here is a short article, written by Danny Chamovitz with a different conclusion, Plants are intelligent; now what?   If you haven’t already read Daniel Chamovitz’s book What a Plant Knows we highly recommend having a look.

Still not sure, to make your own mind up here is an excellent blog post by Devang Mehta (@drdevangm) from the University of Alberta on Massive Science, Plants are not conscious, whether you can “sedate” them or not.

You can also read these papers or enjoy this podcast by @taprootpodcast.

Plants Neither Possess nor Require Consciousness

Plant neurobiology: an integrated view of plant signaling

 TapRoot S3E5: Simon Says: Captivate the public with snazzy videos of plant defense, send plants to space, and embrace curiosity-driven science

I really love Twitter and Tweeters for bringing together these disparate views and sharing their insights with a wider community. What an exciting time we live in! There is so much to learn.