It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

Wondering about plants

page: 1
7
<<   2  3 >>

log in

join
share:

posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 05:27 PM
link   
Plants are considered 'alive' right? What exactly does this mean, I know people like to think plants may have some consciousness, I am not positing that may be the case, more so wondering why plants exist, and so much, what purpose do they serve in and of themselves? I know one may ask what purpose does a rock serve, what does the rain cycle serve in and of itself, but these things arent 'alive' are they. Dont get hung up on my use of the term purpose, I generally mean it to mean 'awareness/consciousness', as in the recognition and acting on ones existence is the purpose of being aware and being able to act on ones existence, something I dont know/think plants can do. Is it thought plants existed before any kind of life? Plants also use DNA right? Could life exist without any types of plants on earth? Think about fruits and vegetables, please the folks who will say "You are looking to assign a purpose to something that 'just is', there is no purpose, its just physics", yes that may be a case but then I will say 'a human just is something very significant and special' compared to other things, and yes depends on many things to be the way they are to exist, but it seems we depend on the nutrients formulated and collected in vegetables and fruits and the likes. So is this just like a collective agreement, we rub the plants back it rubs ours, but what is it benefiting of existing if it cannot experience its existence, thats what I am getting at, I think.

Did life develop from the ultra small, and branch off, and plants were constructed as capturers of energy and nutrients and the other branches of simple life at that time were fated to be the beneficiaries? Ok so we have the earth, we have the size the distance to the sun, the moon, and the total pie chart of elements that exist on earth and where exactly they are, and then (put in the oven and bake) let the sun shine alternatively at parts at least (with the seasons and all) and this adds the most novelty to the matter and it starts forming into more complex structures, and then it starts turning into plant like stuff and micro life type stuff, are plants just 'beta' life forms, or something, and the 'life' more sophisticated then them, or with more potential won out evolutionarily to be higher on the food chain then plants, and the more energy they took in could then be used to improve their systems etc.



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 06:23 PM
link   
Living organisms have a life cycle that includes something like an egg or a seed, don’t they? They mature, or grow up, they reproduce and they eventually die.

link
edit on 4/6/2014 by HillbillyFreak because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 08:14 PM
link   
reply to post by ImaFungi
 

Plants are concious and aware living beings.
Here's a couple vids to back my statement.. Taken from the documentary, The Secret Life of Plants.
The first vid features the experiments of Cleve Backster, considered to be the world's foremost expert on the Polygraph machine. He found out something that changed his life and many people's perceptions of plant consciousness.
The second is a Russian experiment with plants. It involves a lettuce plant successfully picking out a "plant murderer" out of a lineup.


Pretty interesting, huh?
edit on 6-4-2014 by DenyFlatulence because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 08:23 PM
link   
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


More..



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 08:23 PM
link   
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


I don't believe things only exist because they fit some 'plan'. That implies a planner and planning.

They just exist. They evolved out of more primitive life. We went one way, they went another. It's all random chance and time.



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 08:37 PM
link   
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


Humans take in oxygen and release CO2. Plants take in CO2 and release oxygen. So maybe they make sustained human life possible. That's a fairly important purpose, right?



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 08:54 PM
link   
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


Makes a person think that this symbiotic, biosphere was designed.


Over the years, I've watched many homes that were built. Water was supplied to the property. Grass and trees were then planted.

All the things necessary for a family to move in and life to be sustained.



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 09:38 PM
link   
which is why I tell vegetarians that they are still consuming living things.



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 10:26 PM
link   

Bedlam
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


I don't believe things only exist because they fit some 'plan'. That implies a planner and planning.

They just exist. They evolved out of more primitive life. We went one way, they went another. It's all random chance and time.


I didnt say planner or planning. But there must be some 'urging'. Think about this statement; The thing that means the most, always, ever, is 'consciousness'. A simple way to prove that statement is by imagining a reality in which there is a ton of stuff, all the stuff one can think of, and then some, but guaranteed in eternal time never to be a single spec or moment of consciousness, what then of it? Meaningless right. Now, it is beyond compelling then to observe the universe and its establishment, and at least question, a 'strangeness' which you so simply ignore, a rock is good at ignoring, so is a baby, what am I ignoring with my inquisition? How many specs of consciousness exist on this planet? Or have in its historical time, and will? And how many do you posit on all the others? Is this not a point for emphasis?

Higher orders of complex life, 'needed' 'what plants are and do' to exist. Is that not true? The worms and the bees, is it not true that the bees are very important, if not necessary for some of the higher and needed forms of plant life to exist? If you would wish to argue that bees are in no way conscious I would love to argue against you. I am just trying to poke at the universe with my curiosity. It appears there is a very close relationship with the built and the builder in terms of biology, symbiosis of sorts, even the human body is a collection of many parts, and depends on foreign germs and all sorts of things, the human body it self is a city, or an eco system. I will not say cells are conscious, but is all biology under a certain 'line' (that is to say starting with the most complex and conscious creatures, humans, and working downwards through all biological creatures, we will eventually reach a line which on one side is the smallest semblance of 'conciousness' and the other side 'pure predictable physics') pure physics, is your entire body besides your mind; your heart, your lungs, skin, organs, cells, stomach, etc. the product of pure physics? Can we say then too that consciousness does not exist, that your mind then is nothing but pure physics? How could it not be physics, its not disobeying the laws of physics is it?

This is just for the fun of thought, but is it not possible that the microest forms of consciousness played a role in the construction of plants, as a form of machines, and/or architecture,tools, to then further propel their own existence, a kind of see saw or slingshot, did some work, and then benefited from the work they did, down the line of time? I admit this paragraph is complete 'crap shoot' but still, I dont think the truth is as simple as your ignorance.



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 10:29 PM
link   
reply to post by DenyFlatulence
 


I dont think thats necessarily consciousness, I think its more probable that our consciousness is just that, multiplied by millions. The difference between a small programed handheld electronic device from the 70s, and the current largest super computer. I think its completely rational to predict that those 'peculiar' behaviors discovered in plants can be boiled down to complex chemical reactions and biological evolution advantages, complex compared to a rock or a cloud, but very simple compared to the sensory apparatus potential a human can utilize in a second.



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 10:30 PM
link   

yamammasamonkey
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


Humans take in oxygen and release CO2. Plants take in CO2 and release oxygen. So maybe they make sustained human life possible. That's a fairly important purpose, right?


You might be on to something



posted on Apr, 6 2014 @ 11:25 PM
link   

dusty1
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


Makes a person think that this symbiotic, biosphere was designed.

No . It's more that the symbiotic relationship works, therefore it exists.

If the symbiotic relationship didn't work, then it wouldn't exist. Or,if the symbiotic relationship worked differently, we and plants might be different.

To me, it's like that idea I heard that if we had no moon, the life on earth we have today would be impossible. That is probably true, because life on earth today developed the in such a way that works with the fact that the moon exists.

However, if we had no Moon, that does not necessarily mean that there would be no intelligent life on earth. We may not exist, and/or life as we know it today may not exists, but something else might exist -- and maybe some other form of intelligent life.


edit on 4/6/2014 by Soylent Green Is People because: (no reason given)



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 12:13 AM
link   
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People
 





However, if we had no Moon, that does not necessarily mean that there would be no intelligent life on earth. We may not exist, and/or life as we know it today may not exists, but something else might exist -- and maybe some other form of intelligent life. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...


There is no evidence to support your assertion.


Mays, mights and maybe's.


There are over arching systems that support life.

Plants that absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Myriads of plants that provide food and medicine.

Some hypothesis that plants even attract rain.


I could more easily buy the idea of a handful of plants and animals struggling to adapt and survive in a hostile environment.


What I see is variety.

When a company gets really good at what they do, they consciously diversify into other types of products, and business, all in an effort to support and sustain the growth of the company.



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 04:17 AM
link   
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


Personally I see consciousness as an emergent property: "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". Make a system complex enough and you might observe something that one could describe as consciousness.

Plants are relatively simple systems compared to humans, too simple to develop consciousness imho. One could speculate that under different circumstances plants might have become complex enough to have "a brain".



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 04:39 AM
link   
but what is it benefiting of existing if it cannot experience its existence, thats what I am getting at, I think.


What are humans benefiting from existence by experiencing it?



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 04:45 AM
link   
reply to post by johnb
 


Like all life, to pass on their genes. There is no "purpose" here, it's "just" complex behavior arising out of the laws of physics and chemistry.



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 06:45 AM
link   

johnb
but what is it benefiting of existing if it cannot experience its existence, thats what I am getting at, I think.


What are humans benefiting from existence by experiencing it?


Everything!!! The only time value can exist, the only time benefitiation can exist, is if there is an experiencer to experience it.
Every conscious life that ever lived has experienced at least 'something'. You may shrug your shoulders and see nothing special about human existence like a baby might (though even a baby sometimes laughs in fits of joy at its mere sensual existence), you may think the experience of having a body, being a self, building a cathedral, flying to the moon, the history of art, the struggle of the centuries, the perseverance of the human will, the triumph of the human life, is something to scoff at and stare slack jawed and still eyed, but you my friend would be a needle in the overwhelming haystack of humanity. I am not saying I would love to be a worm, but I would take cat over nothing.



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 06:46 AM
link   

GetHyped
reply to post by johnb
 


Like all life, to pass on their genes. There is no "purpose" here, it's "just" complex behavior arising out of the laws of physics and chemistry.


Does 'good' exist. Can an act of goodness occur?



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 06:52 AM
link   

moebius
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


Personally I see consciousness as an emergent property: "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". Make a system complex enough and you might observe something that one could describe as consciousness.

Plants are relatively simple systems compared to humans, too simple to develop consciousness imho. One could speculate that under different circumstances plants might have become complex enough to have "a brain".


Yes I think I agree with you. More along the lines of my proposal is that, is it at all possible that early forms of early life on the brink/bridge of consciousness/smidgens of free will and not, could they have played a role in designing plants? Or creating plants? Like bees make honey combs and pollinate flowers.

I geuss what im asking is, is it possible that a relationship with early life and more inert biological structures, life tampering with those structures and utilizing it, created the first plants, which were habitats, and storage facilities of energy, which both parties eventually evolved in tandem, as plants become more complex, and biology became more complex, because even advanced human biology is very plant like in ways, like our entire bodies arent conscious right? our cells, our lungs, our organs, these function automatic, like machinery.



posted on Apr, 7 2014 @ 07:07 AM
link   
reply to post by ImaFungi
 


I think that there is some difficulty in trying to apply 'meaning' in human or spiritual terms to plant life. We could, now, at this point in our development, possibly survive without plant life, but we could never have come about without it. The primary reason for this is that plants and in fact animals, process elements essential for our survival, that we cannot process, metabolise or in any other way physically synthesise ourselves. Some, we are now capable of synthesising in the lab, but without plants we would never have acquired the intelligence necessary to do that. And that is just one of the ways in which plants are integral to our existence.



new topics

top topics



 
7
<<   2  3 >>

log in

join