people argue that plants arent self aware as meaning they are only half living. I guarantee you not a single vegetable wanted to die for your salad. anyone who grows plants know that plants will actually 'struggle' to stay alive. having grown several tropical plants myself, I can tell you plants have a natural will to stay alive - showing on some level of consciousness *even if its not a consciousness that says 'I'* it knows it can die.
do plants know their own mortality? I think so. There is enough evidence showing they want to live. I think plants are most conscious on its own death bed, as well as most living things. The idea that a living thing will do anything to stay alive and not realize it can die, doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me, its not even logical. The only reason why we reason a living thing will do anything to stay alive and still be mindless of its own mortality is becuase it doesnt have a brain. But seeing as how weve yet to define consciousness, how do we know its the result of having a brain???
When you really think about it, the knowledge that your existance can end almost seems to be the very drive in ALL living things on earth. Everything we do all stems from this drive of death. We live becuase of death. At least, thats how the mortal life is.
people also compare plants to mindless bacteria as another way to show how its only half living. but that isnt entirely fair - plants are sophisticated organisms and they will out live humanity - and they are thousands of times more evolved than a single bacterium. Just look at a tree and try to put it on the level of a bacterium. What kind of mindless bacterium lives for hundreds of years and wieghs a ton? What kind of mindless bacterium out lives a human??? keeping that in mind, you should check out some of the crazy bacterium videos (as well as time lapses films of plants). :yumdumdoodledum: those little critters mindlessly swim around in circles bumping into things, over and over again! theyre quite active even if stupid.
I think our current definition of living things, or even our understanding of consciousness is off.
how self aware are you? are you self aware that you are breathing? are you paying attention to all the sensations of your body right now? of all of your thoughts? what were you thinking of just a moment ago? self awareness is apart of being alive I think - but even then I think there are dozens of different levels of self awareness. And very low levels of self awareness do not have an 'I'. And high levels of self awarness say "I AM"
we can compare self awareness to a dream. you can be dreaming and not be aware of your dream. you can still talk, still reason, still experience, but completely unaware of the reality of your surroundings, not aware of your own self other than your most immediete feelings and actions - in other words a lack of awareness of past and future. Is the dreamer aware why they even thought this or that?? and then what happens to your near mindless dream state? the dream starts to fade and you get this feeling, this feeling that its all about to end. and before the dream fades away from existance you finally realize "Im dreaming!"
I think this is what a low level of self awareness of life is like. That when death comes knocking you finally realize that you were. Thats why I say plants do have some level of awareness, because when death comes knocking on their door - they do not just sit there as you think do. They act, they react, they fight to stay alive. Eastern religions tend to refer to plants as a level of consciousness that is 'sleeping'.
Its hard for humans to imagine self awareness without an 'I'. But I think there is. Becuase 'I' isnt just self awareness but a statement of individuality. Since we are individuals, its hard for us to understand anything that shows no individuality - like plants. However, I do not think inviduality is apart of the living definition, just apart of a higher consciousness.
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edit: I know that some people are going to bring up the nervous system as an argument as to why plants are only half living. But its this mentality that stops us from understanding what makes a living thing living to begin with.
A nervous system is for animals only.
For example. Lets say you break your back. All of your nerves for everything below your waist is dead, gone, destroyed, cut off. What happens? You can no longer feel any stimuli below your waist. You can no longer react to any stimuli below your waist. Your brain can no longer send any messages to any part below your waist to move. Everything below your waist is lifeless.
So. . we ignorant humans conclude, a nervous system is necessary to 'sense'. We use this argument a lot that plants can not feel anything then.
However, we know for a fact that plants DO react to stimuli. If a human can not react to stimuli without a nervous system. . how does a plant? How does a plant move its body parts accordingly to stimuli without a brain?
I think we should toss out the age old belief that our nervous system is the only one.
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