Can Plants Think?

[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.

 

[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.

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.

Would that not be a fantastically wonderful thing to behold?
I'd record every televised moment, myself.

 

[Judgement101]

My plants hate me

 

[Levitas1234]

can animals rationally think?

dogs mind:my master is talking bollocks, i'm not going after his item, he wont even let me have it afterwards.

 

[me.vicky]

I'm pretty sure this has been Mythbuster'd.

 

[spartan231490]

It's more likely just an adapted delay between the stop of stimulus and the stop of the chemical which causes the plant to grow toward the light. This would be useful evolution style because the plant would grow toward the light even during the night. Means you end up in the light sooner, so you grow better than the plants that stoped moving towards the light at sunrise. classic darwinism, and it's a simple explanation that doesnt require the plant to have a CNS.

 

[Nihilism_Is_Bliss]

No.
No, plants are completely incapable of thought.

 

[AugustFall]

Not to the same extent most people think of when they think of 'thought'. Wow that was difficult lol.
Most people when they conceptualise thought attach images and sentient rationality. We can focus our thoughts with language, it's odd to have a thought without words. Words allow us to better store information and recall complex ideas because we can recreate an idea with a few select noises rather than rebuilding an idea in our heads.


Basically I'm saying it's cool they can think but it's in a way that's very difficult to properly fathom.


Edit: Should have fleshed this out more: plants don't have eyes, nor can they actively feel things. This limits whatever they are remembering a lot. I'm just trying to point out the differences of our means of thinking and what they mean when they say plants 'think'.

 

[child of lileth]

I think they did this on Mythbusters. I think they said they have feelings and can think. Not entirely sure though. (I'm too tired to remember correctly right this second.)

 

[Biosophilogical]

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

Plants are patient creatures, and far smarter than we give them credit for. You think the venus fly-trap happened by accident? No sir, it was merely the first step in a mwticulously thought out plan to eliminate humanity, and the plants are happy to wait until we least expect it .... NOW!!!

OT: When I saw this thread title I thought it would be some guy going 'I swear my Strawberry plant can do math' or something, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[LockeDown]

I don't see their results as "memory", at least not in the same way we understand it. They are probably not cognitively aware of a familiar stimuli, and therefore choosing to react in a similar fashion. The entire process appears to be involuntary.

 

[deleted_scifidownbeat]

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