Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence

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Calvo is a professor of the philosophy of science in the Minimal Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Murcia, Spain. Although he presents detailed scientific evidence to support his case, he also draws on philosophical arguments about the nature of consciousness. We humans have a tendency to believe that the world revolves around us, but Calvo writes that intelligence is “not quite as special as we like to think”. He argues that it’s time to accept that other organisms, even drastically different ones, may be capable of it. Plants can learn, as demonstrated by the habituation and discrimination learning of leaf-closing in Mimosa pudica, described by both Calvo and Stefano Mancuso in his book The Revolutionary Genius of Plants (2018), which I recently reviewed (Dorman, 2023). Both Mancuso and Calvo spend a lot of time describing the sensitivity of plants to the same anesthetic chemicals that render animals’ unconscious. Automatic reactions such as leaf-closing in Mimosa pudica or the closing of a Venus Flytrap on an intruding insect are slowed, then stopped, with application of a substance such as chloroform. Not only that, but the electrical impulses that accompany a movement such as the snapping shut of the Flytrap, are muted or absent under anesthesia, similar to interfering with the electrical impulses in an animals’ brains, which are a part of Christof Koch’s indication of consciousness in humans and other animals (Koch, 2015). Not only that, but plants can also respond with chemicals such as dopamine to incidents of damage or destruction, as though they were attempting to relieve pain (which Calvo thinks should lead us to consider the ethical consequences of our actions toward plants).

Planta Sapiens by Paco Calvo, Natalie Lawrence | Waterstones Planta Sapiens by Paco Calvo, Natalie Lawrence | Waterstones

Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they communicate with each other, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is that although plants may not have brains, their internal workings reveal a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in flexible, forward-looking, and goal-directed ways. Por supuesto, cualquier tratamiento así de amplio se expone a ser recibido con un saludable escepticismo. Conceptos como inteligencia, cognición y consciencia están cargados de ambigüedad, y trazar las relaciones que establecen entre sí es incluso más turbio. Uno podría, por ejemplo, aceptar que las plantas almacenan, recuperan y procesan información en modos parecidos a los que usan los animales, facilitando la interacción flexible con el ambiente, sin que le convenza en absoluto de la posibilidad de que las plantas tengan consciencia. Mucho depende aquí de lo que consideremos consciencia. Por ejemplo, Calvo introduce la (bastante técnica) “teoría de la información integrada” (IIT por sus siglas en inglés) para apoyar su argumento a favor de la sensibilidad vegetal. IIT mantiene que la consciencia se corresponde con la interdependencia de las partes de un sistema y la irreducibilidad del sistema a esas partes. A mayor interdependencia e irreducibilidad, mayor grado de consciencia alcanza el sistema. IIT predice que el cerebro tiene altos niveles de consciencia, pero también predice que los fotodiodos y los átomos son también un poco conscientes. Neuroscience reveals that we humans miss much of what unfolds about us, but we neither see nor observe the plant kingdom; we are blinded by our own animal senses. For a start, most of each plant is hidden underground. The “ wood wide web”, the magical subterranean symbiosis between trees and fungi, was a radical but only relatively recent discovery. Some scientists think (as Darwin once did) of a plant’s expansive root system as its head, meaning all we only ever see is its posterior. However, mostly what blinds us is our inability to apprehend the world on plant time; their pace of life redefines slow. Looking deeply into possibilities of entering Jain-hood faiths as well as being a water-arian and/or Breatharian? How easy/difficult can lifestyle be? Realistic? Don’t know, really?) The import of all this has the potential to be stunningly subversive. The central contention of Planta Sapiens is that plants are people. They plan, they communicate, they innovate, and they very likely suffer and know their suffering.

Smart Plants

I appreciate this author's enthusiasm for studying the many interesting behaviors of plants, but unfortunately, this book wasn't written very well. It's a strange mix of personal anecdotes that are only tangentially related to the main topics, lengthy jokes that fall flat (they really aren't funny at all), and overly technical descriptions that are difficult for laypeople to understand. Planta Sapiens presents 'fertile possibilities' to the public and in doing so it has put science on notice [...] We should be delighted with Professor Calvo's seeding of scientific curiosity for the hope that it offers" This book leaned much more towards philosophy than science. I typically welcome that; however, Calvo’s main goal to prove plants’ intelligence and sentience felt weak. Many of the given examples didn’t feel relevant to the overall topic (albeit interesting). Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they communicate with one another, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is the new evidence that plants may actually be sentient. Although plants may not have brains, their microscopic commerce exposes a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in adaptive, flexible, anticipatory, and goal-directed ways. Such astonishing findings have led the book's author, among others, to controversially refer to the study of these processes as “plant neurobiology.” Calvo goes even further, suggesting that plants are cognitive beings and may have “diffused consciousness.” When a vine sends out tendrils, it does so with intent, he writes, using light and chemicals to explore and then home in on a target. The author claims the plant is not “simply reacting,” but it is “making meaning” through inner awareness, perhaps similarly to an octopus whose consciousness seems spread among its arms. Although electrical and chemical signaling inside plants are well established, assertions about plant cognition and possible consciousness are highly contentious. A rebuttal by some animal and plant scientists of Calvo and his colleagues' earlier work states that not only are such ideas wrong, but they harm scientific progress by misleading students and redirecting funding.

Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence - Goodreads

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. David George Haskell is a biologist and award-winning author. His most recent book is Sounds Wild and Broken (Viking, 2022). Nonfiction Big Bad Wolves

Advance Praise

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers. Esto es especialmente evidente en la discusión de la ética vegetal. Como indica Calvo, el estatus moral de las plantas puede resultarnos extraordinariamente inconveniente. Ya nos esforzamos bastante para reconocer el sufrimiento animal cuando tomamos decisiones dietéticas, ¡imaginemos tener que considerar también el bienestar vegetal! Pero que algo sea cierto es independiente de si uno puede aceptarlo o no; en filosofía permanecemos vigilantes de la falacia llamada “el argumento de la incredulidad”. Y al contrario, que haya malos argumentos a favor de una idea no significa que no los haya también buenos. Uno puede no resultar convencido del estatus moral de las plantas, quizá porque se mantiene justificadamente escéptico sobre la consciencia vegetal, pero sin duda, que “Planta Sapiens” y la investigación que revisa genere debate (quizá enconado) sobre tales temas es prueba de su valor intelectual. But as fascinating as these titbits are, you have to cut through reams of deadwood about the author’s career to reach them. It’s a shame. This subject deserves writing that fills the reader with a sense of wonder, encouraging us to think of ourselves as part of an intricate, intelligent biosphere that encompasses flora and fauna alike. The author uses all of this evidence to purport that plants need the same protection and ethical treatment as animals. In this regard, I don’t think he spent enough time explaining why or how. Sure, I think being lazy and not watering your houseplants until they die is unethical, but how would a farmer treat his crops differently when harvesting? Should humans avoid eating plants for the sake of their ability to feel and be harmed? And then what would we eat if not animals either? Or maybe the author is simply trying to make a point that self righteous vegans really have no moral ground to stand on as we are all dominating and harming our food sources regardless of our dietary habits.