Can Plants Think?

[Tartarga]

Search bar approved.

According to a study done by a polish biologist plants are able to remember and respond to information.

Spoiler

In the study, which was published in the early online version of the journal Plant Cell July 16, the researchers found that light shone on one leaf of an Arabidopsis thaliana plant caused the whole plant to respond. The response lasted even after the light source was taken away, suggesting the plant remembered the light input.

"The signaling continiues after the light is off; it is building short-term memory," said the lead author, Stanislaw Karpinski, in an e-mail message. "The leaves are able to physiologically 'memorize' different excess light episodes and use this stored information, for example, for improving their acclimation and immune defenses."

The leaves remember light quality as well as quantity, Karpinski added -- different wavelengths of light produce a different response, suggesting the plants use the information to generate protective chemical reactions like pathogen defense or food production.

Here is the full article.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-07/study-unveils-plant-nervous-system-illuminating-how-plants-remember-and-react

What do you have to say about this my fellow Escapians?

 

[Nossy]

I think every living thing can remember stuff.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

This is very useful information. I should remember this when I'm making my giant mutant Venus fly traps

 

[Neonbob]

That's rather interesting. If it's true, that would make burning plants so much more satisfying.
Though I'd be a little wary of a plants rights group popping up if it is ever chosen.
Still, I do have to admit it would be hilarious to see them protesting a vegetarian restaurant.

 

[Dags90]

Responding to stimuli and and recording past information for future use is a far cry from what most people consider "thinking." Individual cells are capable of these things and we don't consider them to be cognizant.

 

[MONSTERheart]

I don't think so. This reaction to sunlight seems to be more of a passive system (like breathing, heart function, etc) rather than an active one. I'd say a better word is "adapting" rather than "thinking".

 

[Sougo]

If plants could think, they'd make a better effort to rid the world of its greatest pestilence .... namely, humans.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

Well, I don't know that I'd go so far as to qualify that as "thinking." I generally consider thinking to be reserved only for conscious entities. Still, I grow a lot of plants in my appartment, and the truth is that they have a lot of amazing traits, more than most people realize. They're fascinating entities when you really look into it, so this actually doesn't surprise me too much.

 

[grimsprice]

If plants could think, they'd make a better effort to rid the world of its greatest pestilence .... namely, humans.

That sounds like the plot for a crazy strait to dvd sci-fi movie. Maybe we could get some weird director to make it creepy. M night maybe?

OT: Does it have synaptic pathways? Then no, its not thinking.

The tar in asphalt burns away to rock when it is exposed to salt air. Is the slab trying to protect itself by exposing the rocky parts of its makeup? No. Chemical responses to changing environment are what complex chemicals do. Not thought.

 

[DTI]

Yes! Plants can think! However watch out! The plants are far more intelligent than ourselves! They are planning a war against out species and the only way to prevent it is to deforest all the nations forests!

 

[TK421]

No, plants do not think.

That's not thinking. It's just responding to environmental stimulants. It probably remembers the reactions ona cellular level. So it would be better to say. 'Do plant cell's think?' The answer would still be no, but flora cell's are a lot more advanced than fauna cells.

I agree with this.

 

[glodud]

they are not thinking they are remembering, a computer can also make decisions based on circumstances, doesn't mean it's sentient

 

[HT_Black]

I...I just don't understand. I'm sorry, but I really don't get it. I gotta go sit down, or maybe talk to a trained botanist.

 

[ShadowKatt]

Plants do not "think". They have no brain, nor any type of nervous system. Cells to have a type of genetic memory built in though, that tells them how to grow, what to do to live, etc, but plants are not capable of active, conscious, decision-making thought.

 

[TheTaco007]

That isn't thinking. That's like muscle memory.

 

[Slemmy]

ok lets take the apple
the apple originated in central Asia where is was many different kinds of apples
it was tiny ones and nasty ones and cherry ones and really really f*****g sour ones
and there were very few sweet ones
yet here we are today in America with the best tasting apples ever! (of course they were genetically modified but thats not my point)the point is is that its here
but why? why is this delicious red wonder here
it is because it not only thinks but has survival instincts
now way back in cnetral asia when the "apple" was many different apples it was very centralized in one place, but it wanted to travel and be in more places
so when bears would come to eat the apples it would of course eat only the most delicious apples
so the apple evolved into the yummy ones so that bears would eat them then poop out the seeds somewhere else and become another tree
then came people and we brought the apple all around the world because it made its self so yummy and because the bears took them and made big apple trees with yummy apple trees
so i do believe that plants can think (maybe not the way we think or not the way we think they think) but they do think)
-this info brought to you from Botany of Desire i suggest you take a look at it
it can explain what i just said in a sane way

 

[LemonMelon]

This makes me think of that awful shamamamamalon movie with marky mark where that guys arms got ripped off by a lion..

OMG THE TREES ARE SO MAD AT US OMG.

Man, that movie was terrible. Really, just terrible.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

That's rather interesting. If it's true, that would make burning plants so much more satisfying.
Though I'd be a little wary of a plants rights group popping up if it is ever chosen.
Still, I do have to admit it would be hilarious to see them protesting a vegetarian restaurant.

Lookout PETA! We've a new candidate for the hypocritical crazies.

And in some bizarre sense, I can't help but wonder if PETA protesters will kill and eat PETP protesters.

 

[RatRace123]

So what if they can think, it's not like they can do anything... Oh god. OH NO! ONE OF 'EMS BUSTED THROUGH MY DOOR, HELP HELP ME... CALL THE POLI

I'm fine, nothing happened. Go back to your pathetic human lives.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

It sure as hell doesn't indicate sapience. Besides, the ability to react based on external stimuli isn't exactly a very unique ability here on earth. If single-celled organisms can do it, I see little reason to be surprised that advanced multi-cellular organisms are capable of following suit.