Thank you for the references! That explains a lot. When I was a postdoc in chemistry I was studying quinones released by the roots of sorghum. We tried to submit a research proposal, arguing that quinones were chemically somewhat similar to neurotransmitters and it would be interesting to look at their chemistry. Half of the reviewers were overly enthusiastic, while the second half was basically yelling at us.
I am not surprised to hear that story. When I wrote that nobody stops scientists from asking questions I left out that some peer reviewers very much wish to stop some questions from to be asked. The subject of big egos in science is a whole n'other story. Did it completely stop the research?
Perhaps it might be more constructive to look at individual plants as one might look at a single brain cell, that in itself might exhibit responses to stimuli, but is only fulfilling a tiny role in a larger organism that does exhibit intelligence, enabled by communication with thousands of other such plant ‘cells’.
In which case if could be interesting to devise a way of testing a ‘community’ of plants, either of one or many species, but sharing a location or an environment, to discover if the combined sensory, communication, processing, awareness, and response, all together might indicate some level of intelligence.
A walk in the woods might never feel the same again! 🙂
Thank you for the references! That explains a lot. When I was a postdoc in chemistry I was studying quinones released by the roots of sorghum. We tried to submit a research proposal, arguing that quinones were chemically somewhat similar to neurotransmitters and it would be interesting to look at their chemistry. Half of the reviewers were overly enthusiastic, while the second half was basically yelling at us.
I am not surprised to hear that story. When I wrote that nobody stops scientists from asking questions I left out that some peer reviewers very much wish to stop some questions from to be asked. The subject of big egos in science is a whole n'other story. Did it completely stop the research?
Perhaps it might be more constructive to look at individual plants as one might look at a single brain cell, that in itself might exhibit responses to stimuli, but is only fulfilling a tiny role in a larger organism that does exhibit intelligence, enabled by communication with thousands of other such plant ‘cells’.
In which case if could be interesting to devise a way of testing a ‘community’ of plants, either of one or many species, but sharing a location or an environment, to discover if the combined sensory, communication, processing, awareness, and response, all together might indicate some level of intelligence.
A walk in the woods might never feel the same again! 🙂