Panpsychism Makes a Comeback: denied in plants (General)

by David Turell , Wednesday, July 03, 2019, 23:07 (1968 days ago) @ David Turell

Plants to not think, they just grow:

https://phys.org/news/2019-07-dont-case-consciousness.html

"'Feinberg and Mallatt concluded that only vertebrates, arthropods, and cephalopods possess the threshold brain structure for consciousness. And if there are animals that don't have consciousness, then you can be pretty confident that plants, which don't even have neurons—let alone brains—don't have it either," says Lincoln Taiz, Professor Emeritus of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at University of California at Santa Cruz.

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"'The biggest danger of anthropomorphizing plants in research is that it undermines the objectivity of the researcher," Taiz says. "What we've seen is that plants and animals evolved very different life strategies. The brain is very expensive organ, and there's absolutely no advantage to the plant to have a highly developed nervous system."

"Plant neurobiology proponents draw parallels between electrical signaling in plants and nervous systems in animals. But Taiz and his co-authors argue that the proponents draw this parallel by describing the brain as something no more complex than a sponge. The Feinberg-Mallatt model of consciousness, by contrast, describes a specific level of organizational complexity of the brain that is required for subjective experience.

"Plants use electrical signals in two ways: to regulate the distribution of charged molecules across membranes and to send messages long-distance across the organism. In the former, a plant's leaves might curl up because the movement of ions resulted in movement of water out of the cells, which changes their shape; and in the latter, an insect bite on one leaf might initiate defense responses of distant leaves. Both actions can appear like a plant is choosing to react to a stimulus, but Taiz and his co-authors emphasize that these responses are genetically encoded and have been fine-tuned through generations of natural selection.

"'I feel a special responsibility to take a public position because I'm a co-author of a plant physiology textbook," he says. "I know a lot of people in the plant neurobiology community would like to see their field in the textbooks, but so far, there are just too many unanswered questions.'"

Comment: I agree. Consciousness is not everywhere. Plants have intelligently designed responses to stimuli, just as bacteria do.