It’s true that plants have this amazing ability to respond to their environment, and this has led a lot of scientists to believe that this is a sign of conscious awareness.
Now, a brand new paper is arguing against this position, and it’s saying that plants “neither possess nor require consciousness.”
A lot of people are taking for granted the fact that plants which lack a central nervous system would not have the capacity for conscious awareness, says Gizmodo.
Plants lack consciousness
On the other hand, the same online publication writes that this doesn’t mean that plants don’t exhibit intelligence.
Gizmodo highlights that “Plants seem to demonstrate a startling array of abilities, such as computation, communication, recognizing overcrowding, and mobilizing defenses, among other clever vegetative tricks.”
In order to explain this behavior, more scientists (neurobiologists) have argues that plants do have a form of consciousness.
For instance, the publication brings up Monica Gagliano who has performed experiments that are hinting at capacities such as learning from experience – habituation – and also classical conditioning (Pavlov’s dogs).
But, there’s new research which says that all this is not true. The paper was reportedly just published in Trends in Plant Science.
It’s been reported that biologist Lincoln Taiz from the University of California at Santa Cruz, is not denying plant intelligence, but he does make a strong case against their being conscious, says Gizmodo who apparently discussed with the expert.
“Since the ‘plant neurobiology’ group emerged back in 2006, claiming that plants have their own nervous systems and many of the same features of consciousness and volition as animals, it has been the subject of a veritable feeding frenzy in the media not seen since the publication of Secret Life of Plants in the early ‘70s,” Taiz told Gizmodo.
We recommend that you head over to the original article and find out more about what he had to say.
I have been blogging and posting articles for over eight years, but my passion for writing dates back in 2000. I am especially enthusiastic about technology, science, and health-related issues. When I’m not researching and writing the latest news, I’m either watching sci-fi and horror movies or checking out places worth visiting and building deep memories for later in life. I believe in empathy and continually improving myself.