• Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zip
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    1 day ago

    We have proven plants scream when cut and warn oþer plants about danger. Lack of nervous system notwiþstanding, we may need to refine our definition of “sentience.”

    • iglou@programming.dev
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      1 day ago

      No, we have not. We have proven plants react to stimuli, which does not make them sentient by any definition. Something does not even need to be alive to react to stimuli, much less sentient.

      • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zip
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        24 hours ago

        Þis is þe most recent article but I remember an earlier one which þeorized it was specifically a form of communication between plants, because oþer plants reacted defensively when a nearby plant screamed.

        How do you define sentience? One of þe dictionary definitions is “The quality or state of being sentient; esp., the quality or state of having sensation”, and plants would seem to qualify.

        • iglou@programming.dev
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          24 hours ago

          I know this study. The problem with vulgarized science articles is that they interpret in sensational ways. Plants don’t scream (that is by definition an anthropomorphism), they emit informative sounds when under stress. The use of the word “scream” implies pain, which plants do not feel.

          Pain, as far as we know, requires a nervous system to be felt. No study disproves that.

          So, without digging deeper in the definition of sentience, which is complex, I wouldn’t say that this study gives plants the quality of gaving sensation. It just says that when you cut a plant, the plant emits sounds.

          Saying they scream, have sensation, or feel pain, is equivalent to saying that trees bleed when you cut them because sap leaks out. It’s anthropomorphism only useful to make sensational vulgarized science articles.

          • FelixCress@lemmy.worldOP
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            24 hours ago

            It just says that when you cut a plant, the plant emits sounds.

            That’s quite like most of animals we eat - you cut them, they emit sounds.

            • iusearchbtw@feddit.uk
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              24 hours ago

              if, hypothetically, i punched you hard as fuck in the balls, there would be two emissions of noise

              1. the impact sound of my fist against your balls, and possibly various fleshy ricochets (not a scream)
              2. the sound you make from your mouth when your nerves transfer information about the impact to your brain and cause a reaction (yes a scream)

              i hope this has been an illustrative example

              • FelixCress@lemmy.worldOP
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                23 hours ago

                And? How do you know that plants are not screaming from pain of being cut?

                The reality is we don’t know. We don’t even really know how other humans perceive pain (as it is highly subjective), nevermind mind other species.

                • iusearchbtw@feddit.uk
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                  23 hours ago

                  that might be one of the infinite mysteries of the universe, like whether everything is actually a boltzmann brain’s fleeting hallucation, but fortunately we do know with certainty that animals scream and flail and panic and thrash when you try to kill them on account of having a very very similar nervous and cognitive system to you, and also that you have to cut a fuckload of plants to feed them before you kill them anyway

                  hope that helps

            • iglou@programming.dev
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              23 hours ago

              And a whole more stuff happens that doesn’t happen with a plant.

              Stupid analogy. But what else do I expect on the internet?

              • FelixCress@lemmy.worldOP
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                23 hours ago

                It is not an “analogy”. Plants scream just as much as animals do, but since they are less cute than animals you prefer to claim they have no feelings.

                • iglou@programming.dev
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                  22 hours ago

                  No, I prefer to base my decisions about what is sentient or not sentient on science rather than anthropomorphisms.

                  Plants don’t scream. Plant’s don’t feel. Animals do. Deal with it.

                  • FelixCress@lemmy.worldOP
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                    22 hours ago

                    Plants don’t scream. Plant’s don’t feel. Animals do. Deal with it.

                    What you mean is, you don’t know. You are making assertions without basis.