Podcast Short #3: Unveiling Plant Consciousness and Intelligence

Hi, friends, this is John. Welcome back to the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast. Our topic for discussion today is a topic that has always been very dear and important to me and that is around expanding our awareness of plant consciousness and plant intelligence. If you've been a listener the podcast for a while, or if listen to any of my presentations, you know that one of my favorite quotes is originally attributed to Bill o', Brien. And it is that the outcome of an intervention has nothing to do with the skills or knowledge of the intervener. It has everything to do with the place within from which the intervener comes. It's easy for us to consider this dynamic when we are interacting with other people and even with animals and livestock. But I think we often fail to take into consideration that this same dynamic is equally true, or perhaps even more true when we are working with plants. We don't consider plants to be sentient or conscious beings or being capable of informed decision making. That's only true because we're uninformed about the state of the science and how science has been progressing on what capabilities plants truly have. One of my original inspirations in this topic was the author of Steven Herod Buhner. The first of Stephen's books that I read was titled the Lost Language of Plants. And he has this. Stephen has an incredible writing style. He's one of my favorite authors in terms of his writing style, which is both poetic and it is poetic prose. It's a wonderful writing style. But he was also speaking about a topic that was very important to me. And so today I could speak about many instances where we have observed plants responding to people and responding to the intentions that people carry. In other words, the place that they come from within. And there is the. The old trial that has made its round on social media for over a decade where many different people have planted or have sprouted seeds in water. There's wheat seeds have been used and rice and so forth, where they were sprouted in water with different words written on different jars producing completely different outcomes. And this is a reflection of intention as captured any word and captured in water structuring molecules and then or structured water molecules and then within those seeds and how these living organisms are responding to it. So for the discussion today, I'm going to read. I'm going to read a section from one of Stephen Buhner's trilogy. The book that I'm reading from is titled Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm. And we'll put a link to the book in the show notes along with Stephen's other books that I highly recommend. If you're curious about where to find the Show Notes, or if you're not finding them on any of your regular podcast apps, you can find those on the podcast website, the regenerativeagriculturepodcast.com and we will include links to the books in the Show Notes so you can easily make sure that you're getting the right one. So this book is an incredible book. Thoroughly referenced, thorough citations as I think about 550 pages or a little bit more. And the fifth chapter is titled We Want Brains. And as I was trying to select and determine where do I begin? Where do I end? Stephen's writing is so beautiful and it is so rich it's hard to determine an appropriate beginning place and ending place. But I'm going to jump in. In the middle of chapter five where he begins talking. Earlier in the chapter, he is talking about brains and neural networks and the capacity for informed and conscious decision making within bacterial communities and microbial populations. In the Soil profile and roughly around the section where I'm beginning, he begins speaking about the neural networks of plants. So we begin here on page 119. I'm going to read a short section of this Learning and memory are the two emergent holistic properties of neural networks that involve large numbers of neural cells acting in communication with one another. But both properties originate from signal transduction processes in individual cells. Quite remarkably, the suite of molecules used in signal transduction are entirely similar between nerve cells. He's speaking of mammalian our own nerve cells and plant cells. Learning results from the formation of new dendrites, and memory lasts as long as the newly formed dendrites themselves. The neural network is phenotypically plastic, and intelligent behavior requires that plastic potential plant development is plastic. Plant development is plastic too, and is not reversible. Many mature plants can be reduced to a single bud and root and regenerate to a new plant with a different structure determined by the environmental circumstances. This is a quote from a particular paper with a citation. And yeah, we're diving right into the heavy stuff first, but now it gets better. In other words, this is Steven's words. In other words, if you take the cutting of a plant from one location and plant it in another. As the neural system of the plant develops in the soil, analyzing its surroundings all the while it alters as it learns the shape and formation of emerging neural net and the plant body it develops. This more effectively fits it into the environment in which it is now growing. In short, plants possess a highly developed root Brain, which works much as ours does to analyze incoming data and generate sophisticated responses. But what is more, the plant brain that emerges always fits its functional shape to the environment in which it appears. The plant neural net, or brain, is highly plastic when compared to ours. A unique part of the plant root, the root apex, or APIs, which are the pointed ends of the root system, is a combination sensitive finger, perceiving sensory organ and brain neuron. Each root, hair, rootlet and root section contains an apex. Every root mass, millions, even billions of them. For example, a single rye plant has more than 13 million rootlets with a combined length of 680 miles. Each of the rootlets are covered with root hairs, over 14 billion of them, with a combined length of 6,600 miles. Every rootlet and every root hair has at its end a root apex. Every root apex acts as a neuronal organ in the root system. In contrast, the human brain has approximately 86 billion neurons, about 16 billion of which are in the cerebral cortex. Plants with larger root systems and more root hairs can have considerably more brain neurons than the 14 billion contained in rye plants. They can even rival the human brain, and in the number of neurons. And when you look at the interconnected network of plant roots and mycorrhizal mycelia in any discrete ecosystem, you are looking at a neural network much larger than any individual human has ever possessed. While humans and many other animals, for example, have a specific organ, the brain, which houses its neuronal tree, plants use the soil as the stratum for their neural network. They have no need for a specific organ to house their neuronal system. The numerous root apices act as one whole, synchronized, self organized system, much as the neurons in our brains do. Our brain matter is in fact, merely the soil that contains the neural net we use to process and store information. Plants use the soil itself to house their neuronal net. This allows the root system to continue to expand outward, adding new neural extensions for as long as the plant grows. For this reason, this is a sub quote sidebar. Old growth plants then begin to take on a much different character than their younger offspring. There are states of being that only come into play with age and with the extensive development of expanded neural networks. The neuronal structure in an ancient redwood or old growth Artemisia absinthium, is different from that in younger plants. So are the memories and life experiences held within that neuronal structure. Plants become wise, too, as they age. We are not the only ones capable of it. You can literally feel the difference Such maturity brings in encountering old growth trees. The young just don't have it. In addition, the leaf canopy also acts as a synchronized, self organized perceptual organ which is highly tuned to electromagnetic fields. It can be viewed in fact as a crucial subcortical portion of the plant brain. As Beluska et al. Comment, the root apisis here's another quote from a paper harbor brain, light brain. Like units of the nervous system of plants, the number of root apisis in the plant body is high and all brain units are interconnected via vascular strands or plant neurons with their polarly transported auxin, which is a plant neurotransmitter, to form a serial or parallel neuronal system of plants. From observation of the plant body of maize corn, it is obvious that the number of root apices is extremely high. This feature makes the cereal plant brain extremely robust and the amount of processed information must be immense. That's the end of the quote from this paper. Plant biologist Peter Barlow adds that the tip of the roots form a multi headed advancing front. The complete set of tips endows the plant with a collective brain diffused over a large area, gathering as the root system grows and develops information crucial to the plant's survival. And he continues, one attribute of a brain, as the term is commonly understood, is that it is an organ with a definite structure and location which gathers or collects information which was originally in the form of vibrations, heat or light or sound, chemical or mechanical vibrations in the ambient environment, and somehow transforms them into an output or response. By this definition, plants do have brains, just as we do. But given their capacity to live for millennia, in the case of some aspen root systems over a hundred thousand years, their neural networks can in many instances far exceed our own. Old growth aspen root systems can spread through as much as a hundred acres of soil, creating a neural network substantially larger than Einstein's or any other human that has ever lived. They are sometimes far, far more intelligent than human beings. Plants, it must be realized, possess a spectrum of neural networks, just as mammals do. Some plants possess extremely large networks, others possess smaller networks. In other words, brain size occurs across a considerable range, just as it does with mammals. Nevertheless, all plants are intelligent, just as are all mammals. They are all self aware. They all engage in highly interactive social transactions with their communities. For their neural networks to function, plants use virtually the same neurotransmitters we do, including the two most important, glutamate and gaba gamma aminobuty. They also utilize, as do we, acetylcholine, dopamine, Serotonin, melatonin, epinephrine, norepinephrine, levodapa, indole, 3 acetic acid, 5 hydroxyindolacetic acid, testosterone and other androgens, estradiol and other estrogens, nicotine, and a number of other neuroactive compounds. They also make use of their plant specific neurotransmitter, auxin, which, like serotonin, for example, is synthesized from tryptophan. These neurotransmitters are used, as they are in us for communication within the organism and to enhance brain function. The similarity of human and plant neural systems and the presence of identical chemical messengers within them illustrate just why the same molecular structures, for example morphine or cocaine or alcohol, that affect our neural networks also affect plants. Bozet, who developed some of the earliest work on plant neurobiology in the early 1900s, treated plants with a wide variety of chemicals to see what would happen. In one instance, he covered large mature trees with a tent, then chloroformed them. The plants breathed in the chloroform through their stomata, just as they would normally breathe in air. Once anesthetized, the trees could be uprooted and moved about without going into shock. He found that morphine had the same effects on plants as that of humans, reducing the plant pulse proportionally to the dose. Given too much took the plant to the point of death. But the administration of atropine, as it would in humans, revived it. Alcohol, he found, did indeed get a plant drunk. It, as in us, induced a state of high excitation early on. But as intake progressed, the plant began to get depressed, and with too much, it passed out and it had a hangover the next day. Irrespective of the chemical he used, Bose found that the plant responded identically to the human. The chemicals had the same effect on plant's nervous system as it did to the human. This really should not be surprising. The neurochemicals in our bodies are used in every life form on the planet long before we showed up. They predate the emergence of the human species by hundreds of millions of years. They must have been doing something all that time, you know, besides waiting for us to appear. The vascular strands that support the plant body, giving it its rigid structure, also act as the peripheral nerve system for the plant. The plant's neurotransmitters travel along the nerve system, carrying information to the periphery, just as they do in our bodies. The plant's roots engage in finely detailed analysis of their environment and communicate with the rest of the Plant via neurotransmitters. The leaf canopy as well is taking in considerable data about the exterior world above ground. That data is sent to the root brain system, again via neurotransmitters for analysis. GABA is present in high levels in the mammalian brain, where it plays a major part in neurotransmission. It is also involved in the development of the nervous system through through the promotion of neuron migration, proliferation and differentiation. GABA strongly affects neuronal growth during cortical development, promoting DNA synthesis and cell proliferation, stimulating neurons to assemble into functional networks of axons and dendrites. It, along with auxin, plays similar roles in the formation of plant root neurons. And there is so much good information here. I'm not going to be able to get all of it into this episode. So I'm going to bounce around a little bit here. Here's a section a paragraph. Roots of plants are exquisitely aware of self and not self and engage in sophisticated interactions with a wide range of living organisms. They are capable of forming facultative cell to cell junctions with cells of other organisms such as plants and fungi and bacteria. They correspond to immunological synapses, specialized cell to cell adhesion domains that involve the plasma membranes of the two organisms that are opposing each other. Such adhesive domains are also the sites of active cell to cell transport of molecules and bouncing. To another paragraph. Here he's speaking about the close attachment with mycelial networks. In fact, most plant roots are part of a sophisticated root fungus communal network that can extend over miles. The mycelia provide immune enhancing compounds and various neurochemicals for the plants, again in exchange for nutrients that support the development and immune function of the plant body and root brain, just exactly as they do in us when we take them as herbal medicines. This highly developed mycelial and plant root system connects all of the plants in a particular eco range into one self organized whole that itself possesses capacities not perceivable in any of the parts. In essence, a large self organized neural network develops. This is incredible when you think about what he is describing. This leads to the emergence of a unique identity in every identifiable eco range on Earth. The emergence of self organized eco ranges generates the potential for highly adaptable responses to environmental perturbations that might affect that eco range. Within that system, all the plants are continually communicating with each other, sending chemical communications along the mycelial networks to other plants in the community. Plants also speak using auditory signals through a complex sound based language that is far more ancient than the Human, though it exists in a much subtler sound spectrum than our own. A biological Internet that existed long before our pale imitation. If plants in the system detect that another plant in the mycelial network is ill, unique compounds are generated by the plants most able to do so. And this could be from a completely different species. This is why species diversity and group diversity is so important and why I believe plants can have medicinal impact on their environment and on their eco range. Unique compounds are generated by the plants most able to do so and sent through the mycelial network to wherever they are needed. The medicinal compounds in plants have been used for millennia to heal the individual plant, other plants in the ecorange network, and the insects and other animals that make that eco range home. This kind of cooperation, while irritating to kill or be killed reductionists, produces an eco range much more adaptable to environmental perturbations than would occur if each organism were constantly fighting each other, as neo Darwinists would have us believe. The old lie that nature is red in tooth and claw, that life is a constant struggle for survival is in an implacably hostile environment just doesn't bear up under close examination. Life forms die, yes, but they also help other members of their family and other members of their species and the members of other species off and on throughout their lifetimes, just as we do. As Richard Lewontin comments, To be convinced that all behavior on the part of others without distinction is hostile is a form of mental illness. I'm going to read that again. To be convinced that all behavior on the part of others without distinction is hostile is a form of mental illness. There's a few more incredible pages left in this chapter, but you know, I'm going to pause right here because this quote is so powerful. To be convinced that all behavior on the part of others without distinction is hostile is a form of mental illness. Well, what if we consider diseases or insects? Do we consider mosquitoes to be universally hostile? Do we consider flea beetles and various insects that would feed on our crops to be universally hostile? It's unfortunate that many we have, and I experienced this for many years. We have been indoctrinated into a system to perceive these various life forms as universally hostile. And yet, as we learn more about these ecosystems, we recognize that this is not true. William Albrecht stated it very well. He said that diseases and insects are nature's garbage collectors. They're the cleanup crew to clean up the mess of sick and unhealthy plants. And all of us know from our personal experience that disease and insects do not infect crops indiscriminately. They show up in specific regions, specific fields or parts of fields first. They are not indiscriminately hostile, but they are there as a reflection of what is happening within that particular eco range. So all of Steven's books are an incredible read. They are very thoroughly documented with extensive citations in the peer reviewed literature and they are definitely reading that will stretch your mind to new boundaries, to new ideas. I've chosen to read this segment, this section of Stephen's book because I have included three of his books on my recommended reading list which you can find on my blog. And it's become apparent in conversations that many people are beginning at earlier stages on their reading list. They're reading about agronomy, they're reading about plant physiology, and they haven't yet reached the topic, these topics or these book recommendations of understanding plants more deeply. And this is an incredible, beautiful realization that when we deeply appreciate that plants are conscious, sentient beings sensing and communicating with their landscape and their ecosystem, that they respond to our intentions, that they respond to the place that we come from within, it completely changes the dynamics of how our farming ecosystems respond to our intentions. So I hope that you find this information useful and valuable and please let me know your thoughts.