Will plants evolve into sentient beings? :o

Plants are our opposite, we need them to live, and they need us. plants at present are only able to do simple, instinctive things like open when they come into contact with light, close to trap flies etc....

But we, a lonnnnnnng way down our evolutionary chain were not too different.

Could plants ever develop something that resembles a plant version of a brain, intelligence, or even sentience???

I doubt it...for one thing they are already a "type" of being...but I don't see them evolving into something similar to "us". Studies have been done where plants were connected to electrodes and had two people come into a room...one took a plant and tore it to shreds yelling and screaming, the other came in and talked to the plants....later when they brought the person back into the room...when the person came in that had torn up the plant, the electrode needles went nuts....suggesting some type of recognition....the needles did nothing when the other person entered the room.

wow thanx! quite interesting + odd. wud be kwel if they got sentience tho......

I doubt it. There's no need for them to. They populate the world with such an amazing strength, they are really on top of the evolutionary process as far as they are concerned.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Trying to figure out how some plants developed a taste for flesh... how many plants are there that trap and consume live prey? *shudder*

Seriously! I've contacted one botonist after another, with no result!

But as for plants developing into intelligence?

1. Communication - We have forests that warn other trees about attacking catepillars.

2. Muscle structure - We have seen plants move and adjust themselves for the light.

3. Survival instincts - Regular grass becomes more and more poisonous / distateful the more it is cut or eaten.

4. Circulatory/Respiration - Trees bleed, they breathe.

If any of those examples don't defines life, then what does? Granted, this is about INTELLIGENT or SENTIENT plant life, so...

What defines intelligence? Would an advanced alien race consider us an intelligent organism, or just one that acts within its environment? I like the Matrix definition of humans... only viruses spread and consume everything in its environment. By that, we ARE viruses.

A tree can live for many many years. Some trees are 3000 years old. Perhaps the way they live is so different from our own that we cannot see them or hear them, to know that they are alive. Perhaps they have learned to live within the world instead of having to change its own view.

(as a side note... crystals can grow, and they have a heart beat... are they alive?)

Does this answer the assigned question? Probably not... but until someone can explain to me flesh eating plants, that's all you are going to get!

Plants will evolve into sentient beings according to Doctor Who.... If Doctor Who says so then...

Wow that is some pretty interesting stuff. I have always though of a plant as a living thing, but never put much though into it. Dont plants mate too...for example i think if you were to get an apple tree...it wouldnt start producing apples without a mate. Thats juts what I heard from someone...i have an apple tree in my backyard and they said thats why its not growing apples.

i wonder if they get mad when im eating apricots

Lol.

One o u guys sed tht plants are at the top o their game - with no need to evolve. (the theory bieng tht things evolve 2 avoid extinction or to thier new environment)

also one o u tlked bout tht experiment and how plants are aware of peoples presence to a certain level....

Tht sed wudnt plants know when their about to become exctint, like perhaps the brazil rainforests???

AOLSpeak! Hurts!

Originally posted by Shadow88
Tht sed wudnt plants know when their about to become exctint, like perhaps the brazil rainforests???

Not really. It just means they might know a little more about their surroundings than we think. Some plants do live in communities, and are in fact connected with one another for hundreds of square miles, forming one plant. They would theoretically notice when some members died.

I was the one who said they are "on top of their game" as you said.

Everything is evolving. Especially humans. Still, everything is learning and adapting and growing.

Will plants become sentiant? I do not know, but I would not bet against it.

Love and light,

Wupy

When I first read the title of this string I thought it said "Will PANTS evolve into sentient beings? " And I was all, well wouldn't that be interesting? And then I thought, hmmm. If my pants were a sentient being what would they be thinking right now? If my pants would talk what would they say? Then I decided to go through this thread and replace "plants" with "pants" and see what I got

One o u guys sed tht pants are at the top o their game -

Trying to figure out how some pants developed a taste for flesh... how many pants are there that trap and consume live prey? *shudder*

bwa ha ha ha ha
Okay I'll stop now.

darwin ahahahaha

Plants are a billion or so years ahead of us evolution-wise. They are far past the need for intelligence. They do one thing and one thing only: survive. They are very good at it. They help eachother survive, but know full well sometimes that means sacrifice of themselves or eachother.

Take a step back and really take a look at all the plant life across the countryside. Mentally strip the leaves and see only tree limbs and trunks, plant trunks and stems, twisting vines... theyre all perfectly formed shapes and designs, many fractals, forcing their way up into the sea of our atmosphere. They are life perfected. They don't think because they don't need to.

They make great salads too... especially taco salads... with lots of cow.

Plants will develop intelligence when evolutionary pressures make it advantageous for them do do so.

I have long dreamed of creating a hybrid race of super cannabis that can grow 20 feet tall (the natural height of hemp), and walk around getting their revenge on mankind.

Will it happen? Wait and see!!!

Um dude....ok?

GO HAVE YOUR STONED FANTASIES SUMWHERE ELSE