Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence

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In a provocative new book, Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence, philosopher Paco Calvo, with writer Natalie Lawrence, explores these questions, urging us not to fall into the “zoocentric trap” of believing that intelligence, agency and even consciousness are found only in animals. I am sad to say that this book just wasn't for me. I am a huge nature lover of both animals and plants and so love to read nature books but unfortunately I found this book to be too dense and without enough interesting facts to keep me really involved. This is the third book I have read by the cluster of academics working on plant intelligence systems: it would be fair to say I hated them both, so saying this is much better is not a huge endorsement, but, well I did. It also clarified for me why - despite my strong desire for ev And its been a weird feeling, but the ups and downs of this book kinda cancel out. The author presents some really interesting ideas about plant cognition, the philosophy behind it, and the implications it has for technology and society. He attempts to break free from traditional views of science and also points out several developments in the scientific world that frankly go deeper than just plant sciences.

Scientific American What Is It Like to Be a Plant? - Scientific American

Paco Calvo is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the Minimal Intelligence Lab (MINTLab) in the University of Murcia, Spain, where his research is primarily in exploring and experimenting with the possibility of plant intelligence. In his research at?MINTLab, he studies the ecological basis of plant intelligence by conducting experimental studies at the intersection of plant neurobiology and ecological psychology. He has given many talks on the topic of plant intelligence to academic and non-academic audiences around the world during the last decade. Simply by being part of this philosophical sea change, Planta Sapiens is an important book, if not especially compelling. It does contain some interesting vignettes. I had no idea, for instance, that the smell of freshly cut grass comes from the chemicals released by the wounded plant to warn nearby grasses to mobilise their defences. At least now I have an excuse for not mowing the lawn: I don’t want to hurt its feelings. This was such an incredibly interesting book about the intelligence of plants. Not only does it talk about the science currently being employed to study plants and understand them better, but it discusses the implications of what it could mean for humanity and its future should we determine that in fact, plants are intelligent.Standing before the ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Paco Calvo was reminded of its legendary inscription – the Oracle’s request to Know Thyself – and in that moment had an epiphany; “I realised clearly that to ‘know thyself’, one had to think well beyond oneself, or even one’s species.” Having dedicated these past few years to researching the many ways in which animal senses and sentience shed light on what it means to be human, I agree. However, whereas my zoological training directs me towards the animal kingdom to better understand myself and others, Calvo – a professor of philosophy – looks to far more distant relations, a kingdom apart. Is the potted cactus on your windowsill a cognitive being? When the lettuce in your sandwich was cut from its roots, did it feel pain? Have you ever sat and watched a plant? The very idea itself might seem strange. We like to watch things that move, that do something. But in fact, plants are doing a great deal too - plants behave, as animals do - they are just doing it on a very different timescale. They cannot move about freely like animals do, so they grow into space instead and make new chemicals to interact with the species around them. Not only that, but what causes them to do these things, what drives this behaviour, is far more similar than we humans, with our speedy, animal-centric perceptions, have always assumed. If we learn to look differently, we might be amazed at what we find. In the course of his book, Calvo describes many experiments that reveal plants’ remarkable range, including the way they communicate with others nearby using “chemical talk”, a language encoded in about 1,700 volatile organic compounds. He also shows how, like animals, they can be anaesthetised. In lectures, he places a Venus flytrap under a glass bell jar with a cotton pad soaked in anaesthetic. After an hour the plant no longer responds to touch by closing its traps. Tests show the plant’s electrical activity has stopped. It is effectively asleep, just as a cat would be. He also notes that the process of germination in seeds can be halted under anaesthetic. If plants can be put to sleep, does that imply they also have a waking state? Calvo thinks it does, for he argues that plants are not just “photosynthetic machines” and that it’s quite possible that they have an individual experience of the world: “They may be aware.” We are unimaginable without plants, yet surprisingly blind to their powers and behaviors. Planta Sapiens weaves science and history into an absorbing exploration of the many ways that plants rise to the challenge of living." - Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life

Planta Sapiens : Unmasking Plant Intelligence - Google Books Planta Sapiens : Unmasking Plant Intelligence - Google Books

The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our El libro tiene una gran amplitud, dada su relativa brevedad. Más allá de la ciencia de la inteligencia y la conducta de las plantas, Calvo traza las implicaciones para el modo en que vemos a las plantas y su lugar en la naturaleza. El argumento central es que deberíamos tomar seriamente la posibilidad de que las plantas tengan sensibilidad (dicho en plata, consciencia) y, a través de investigación científica emergente y cuidado filosófico, podríamos empezar a imaginar “cómo se siente” ser una planta. También discute las ramificaciones éticas de la sensibilidad de las plantas (un tema olvidado, pero ya debatido por filósofos de la antigüedad como Teofrasto). Y también la infuencia de la conducta vegetal en una nueva era de la robótica, en la guisa de “crecebots”, que reemplazan los caparazones de metal y las articulaciones hidráulicas de los robots inspirados en los animales con cuerpos modulares “blandos” que crecen a través del espacio. In PLANTA SAPIENS, Professor Paco Calvo offers a bold new perspective on plant biology and cognitive science. Using the latest scientific findings, Calvo challenges us to make an imaginative leap into a world that is so close and yet so alien - one that will expand our understanding of our own minds. While plants may not have brains or move around as we do, cutting-edge science is revealing that they have astonishing inner worlds of an alternate kind to ours. They can plan ahead, learn, recognise their relatives, assess risks and make decisions. They can even be put to sleep. Innovative new tools might allow us to actually see them do these things – from electrophysiological recordings to MRI and PET scans. If you can look in the right way, a world full of drama unfurls. This unorthodox approach allows for the complexity of both Berry's personal journey and the wolf's status as a rich cultural avatar. In the chapter “Girl v. Wolf,” Berry unspools the parallels between her experience attending a college far away from her family and the wolf's quintessential role as a lurking threat to girls who leave home. She describes encounters with Big Bad Wolves that made her feel frightened and uncomfortable, but she also explodes the simplistic lessons of the fairy tale by examining how the story's evolution has distorted its original emphasis on survival rather than victimhood. She reflects poignantly on her connections with other female victims of violence whose fates, like Little Red's, were co-opted to serve others' agendas and to assuage—or exacerbate—their fears.It’s difficult to imagine a world in which plants are considered with anything like the empathy this book suggests they deserve, and not only because this would mean confronting a truly alien system of perceiving the world; it would also raise the question of what even painstakingly ethical vegans are supposed to eat all day long – after all, man cannot live on jelly beans alone. As a plant scientist myself, I was super excited to start this book. I've long been intrigued by cognition in other species and Planta Sapiens seemed to offer insights into one of my favorite branches of the tree of life! So I got this at the end of last year and was very excited about it.