Trees Are Conscious

I never knew until recently that they actually talk to each other. Amazing!

Agree, I am a tree hugger

I love greenery, my home is surrounded by flowering bushes of all types and they are all evergreen. I have borders full of perenial flowers and roses that have been in my garden since we married in 1967, my back and side garden borders have lots of Hydrangeas. People have remarked about the birds singing in my bushes all day long. I cannot understand why people do not have any type of greenery in their garden, everything has been paved off, not even a tub with flowers in it. None of my neighbours have flowers in their front garden, just a lawn that takes them all their time to mow it. A few planters with flowers in them would brighten everything up.

Are trees conscious? They are alive certainly but they are not conscious in the way humans are. They respond to stimuli but that doesn’t make them conscious. Whatever they are beautiful - not just the greenery but the bark is very tactile.

I love trees. Whichever window I look out of there are trees. I think they must be conscious at some level.

I remember being told that grass being mown sends anguished messages.

😢

I am a big tree lover, they are a constant reminder of how precious and special life on this planet is.

However, they are not 'conscious' in the sense that we humans are. They do communicate through a network of underground roots etc but this doesn not make them conscious.

It will be a very long time until we can reproduce something as complex as a tree using AI though I suspect some will try.

25Avalon wrote:

"Are trees conscious? They are alive certainly but they are not conscious in the way humans are. They respond to stimuli but that doesn’t make them conscious."

Thanks for your insight. Would you consider horses and fishes conscious, or do they only respond to stimuli?

Horses and fish have proven, identifiable brains. Can the same be said of trees/plants?

Keeping quiet wrote:
"It will be a very long time until we can reproduce something as complex as a tree using AI though I suspect some will try."

I agree. Would you consider that consciousness is caused by complexity, or is there something else that only some living things have?

Winterwhite, I understand that vegetable systems don't have neurons but that such as trees and other vegetable things communicate by pheromones ,
but not by electro- chemical nerve action like animals do.
Should we respect trees and their lives even if they are different from us?

Perhaps trees and small annual plants that we see in gardens and hedgerows can experience what happens to them and others. Who knows.

Winterwhite, I like your designation "trees/plants,

Trees/plants have neither brains or neurons. Maybe trees/plants have some other system for collating and learning from the information that they gather from their environments.

AAGA4 wrote:
"I love trees. Whichever window I look out of there are trees. I think they must be conscious at some level."'
Like you, I believe that there are different levels of consciousness. Besides levels of consciousness, do you think there may be different types of consciousness?
You obviously have feelings for trees. Maybe we have to have feeling for things before we can understand them. AI devices can't have feelings . Am I right, and does this make AI potentially dangerous??

Mollygo wrote:

"I remember being told that grass being mown sends anguished messages."

I think this is held to be true by scientists. Would you say a feeling such as anguish is a sign of being alive not dead , and a natural being not a computer?

I believe scientists are on the fence about whether or not plants are conscious beings.

But I do believe that plants can communicate and react to stimuli, but on what level? Has anyone heard of the Japanese practice of forest-bathing? They say that spending quiet time within a forest can ease stress and help with depression. I know I have always found comfort amongst a wooded area, since I was a child.

I think life on earth transcends the principles of consciousness through a brain or nervous system. I believe that all forms of life, from grass to humans are linked through a spirit of energy.

I believe they are sentient

CanadianGran

I believe scientists are on the fence about whether or not plants are conscious beings.

But I do believe that plants can communicate and react to stimuli, but on what level? Has anyone heard of the Japanese practice of forest-bathing? They say that spending quiet time within a forest can ease stress and help with depression. I know I have always found comfort amongst a wooded area, since I was a child.

Yes, I've heard of it, and found it interesting.
I think seeing ourselves as part of nature is always good for the psyche.

To know that we are "of it" instead of in charge of it.

As well as scent, pheromones etc, trees communicate through something known as the world-wide web - ie the fungi which grow along their roots.

We had to have an ash tree cut down in our garden, sadly, but still the fungi grow along the root system.
I'm not sure which other tree it's communicating with though. A plum?

I typed wood-wide web but autocorrect knew better, sorry!

It's probably sending out a warning.
"Watch out!! Mind your plums!!!"

😁

I cried because one of our trees looks like it has died in all this sodden weather over winter. So we’ve dig it up and put it in a pot 😭 to give it a chance please all 🙏 for it