Do you feel that trees could be "self-aware"?

Question

When you are out in your flower garden cutting into those long stemmed lovlies, do you think it is possible that they are screaming on some wavelength that we can not hear?

Answer 1

There was a segment to a Nova episode once where they had a plant in one side of the room with some kind of a voltmeter or something connected to it.

In the other side of the room, there was a pot of boiling water and a separate container full of live brine shrimp.

When the poured the shrimp into the boiling water, killing them instantly, the voltmeter on the plant went crazy.

Answer 2

I don't know. Maybe. They could be. They do not have the complex nervous systems that animals do, but that does not necessarily mean that it is impossible for them to have awareness. They AREN'T animals, therefore, why should we be categorizing what they can and cannot do based on the animal systems they lack?

However, I imagine that they cannot experience pain, at least not the way we can. If we feel pain, we react and try to move away from the source of the discomfort, like all animals. But plants can't move the way we do. Any movement they do is a reaction to stimuli, yes, but it is a very slow motion. Too slow to be a defense in the face of a foraging animal or someone with a chainsaw. What good would it do for them to experience pain if it is beyond their power to stop it from happening? It would be torture without a purpose. They MAY BE aware of injury when it occurs, but most certainly not with the same alert system we animals have.

Answer 3

some information indicates that plants do have feelings,emotions and maybe even intelligence.

The north American Indians ,dance around a tree singing that they are going to kill it,they then quickly turn around and chop its neighbor down,taking it by surprise.
this suggest that they believe the tree has feelings.

Plants belonging to people with green fingers ,who talk to their plants ,often do better.

There once was a famous experiment,whereby 7 people walked into a room where there was a big plant,that was wired up to a lie detector.
One of the people had a knife and cut some parts of the plant.
then later when the people were brought before the plant again,the lie detector gave a violent leap in its readings ,when the person with the knife was brought before it.
the same experiment was done with trees and in all cases the same result.
so who says who has feelings or souls.

intelligence??????
a eucalyptus tree when it is being attacked by a Caterpillar sends messages via pheromones trough the air which are picked up by similar trees often many miles away.
when the caterpillars reach this tree it is ready for them and kills them with a poison ,that it has developed in the meantime and secretes trough its leaves.

is this intelligence

Answer 4

Of course not.
Tomatos lack any sort of neural network to send or receive nerve impulses. A voltmeter will surely register a charge, as will slicing through nearly anything. Static electricity or reactions between the acids in a tomato and a knife blade could cause a measurable electrical pulse.

Answer 5

Have you ever attached a sensitive voltmeter to a tomato just before you slice it with a large kitchen knife?

The needle will peg when you make that first deep cut. It is the death scream of a tomato.

Enjoy your salad, you monster.

Answer 6

More self aware than the cut and run democrats in congress. Just kidding, no to be self aware you have to have some type of nervous system and central processing organ. Trees, plants, microbes, inert matter, and the earth itself does not have either. Plants and microbes are alive but not self aware.

Answer 7

Yes , read "The Secret Life of Plants"

Answer 8

seriously, though, folks

"self-awareness" (i.e. consciousness) requires something like a large, complex concentration of neurones like we have in our brains. trees and plants don't have anything like that, so no - they are not self-aware.

reaction to stimuli and 'screaming' when cut notwithstanding.

Answer 9

The Mythbusters .. say no.. they did a whole show recently on that topic

Answer 10

No. Trees, plants, and flowers do not have brains, spinal cords, or nerves. You are attributing human characteristics to plants.