Some Limited Notes on Plant Cognition

So today I'm going to ramble on a bit about some of the possibilities of plant cognition- if you could call it that, as plants do not have brains. The fact that plants cannot think or do not have consciousness is widely believed, but in fact that is hard to prove because the lack of widely accepted operational definitions of thought/consciousness. What exactly are they? Are they processes that can only exist in a brain? Only in a human brain?

Unfortunately, that is how it seems to be defined presently. Most of the scientific studies being done on consciousness involve the respondent giving verbal answers to indicate their experience with stimulus, which is not the most rigorous data collection  method. In addition, only people can provide verbal answers, and so skews the proof of consciousness to humans alone. Some methods have used EEG and fMRIs for studies, but again, without a widely accepted operational of consciousness, it is difficult to find evidence of consciousness. This is especially difficult when talking about plants, because the measures of consciousness/cognition currently used require a brain or some verbal capacity, and plants have neither.

However, plants do exhibit some behaviors we find associated with cognition, despite not having a brain. One example is dubbed the "wood wide web." Plants nearby each other will oftentimes connect at the roots, allowing them to exchange nutrients and information. Scientists have found that during winter months evergreens will provide nutrients to deciduous trees. This is not just pro bonum, though, as the debt is repaid during the summer months when the deciduous trees tend to block light from the evergreens. Fungi, though not plants, also exhibit similar behavior, and there are studies showing that they have a level of self-recognition, which is often a prerequisite for consciousness (hence the mirror test used on animals- but that won't work on plants because of the lack of eyes, and there are some issues with the validity of the mirror test). The exchanging of information and settling of scores, while not prove of cognition, certainly seem to point in that general direction.

In addition, some plants have memory, something also indicative, though not proof, of thought. Mimosa pudica plants close their leaves when disturbed as a defense mechanism. Researchers found that when they dropped the plants from a height repeatedly they learned that the fall was not a threat and stopped closing. They responded, however, to shaking and other threats regularly. For several months the plants would not react to a fall, showing a memory of the stimulus. So, lacking what many consider necessary for memory storage (brain or at least a centralized neural system), they store memory anyway. This opens the possibility of other cognitive behavior in plants, even without brains.

The plant, not the drink

Of course, this is far from being proven and highly speculative, but it shows that plants need more credit than we give them.

On a side not, plants can also hear! I'm attaching the video that inspired this post, and also provided much of the information, which explains more about plant auditory and other senses.

Also, in my research I also learned about the philosophical zombie! Unfortunately its not a Descartes spouting undead being, but a thought experiment to critique the methods of measuring consciousness. It is a theoretical being who could respond as if they experienced stimuli when in fact that they had not, thus mimicking consciousness but not experiencing consciousness.

Explained by Dinosaur Comics

Civilization

Hey!

So, to respond to Dad's inquisition in my own blog:
I tend to do fun stuff in my free time, like eat and go to ward activities!

Word of the Blog:

Civilization-
: all the societies of the world

While other definitions exist, civilization as stated by my MSE professor was the above. To him, other usages (Mayan civilization, Indian Civilization, etc) is actually culture.
Two insights:
1- (general linguistics) words are very accurate; or can be, depending on the wielder of words. They can mean multiple things, but also we may not understand what actually lies behind our words.
2- My professor explained the specifics of the word civilization thus: People advancing; humanity moving forward; pushing for better, faster, stronger.

Having put us through that drill, I wish to present a second, complementary definition -

:refinement of thought, manners, or taste

I love the fact to think that our innate desire is to "superar" (Portuguese for "surmount" or "overcome"), to be more than we once were.

Civilization celebrates creating! Yay!

Love you all

Stealing Sunday

Thou shalt not....steal? Does a blog day count?

Actually what I'm doing is more like claiming something unused. Kind of like American Settlers claimed unused land in Oklahoma and elsewhere.... Uh, on second thought, this is nothing like that. Claiming a blog post day is completely innocuous. All I'm doing is making electrons move in specific patterns, against their will. Electrons don't have wills so I'm okay right?

If you happen to still be reading, I'm not really even claiming the day--it just seems to be when I have more time to post, but if you want to post on Sunday too, by all means go ahead and post. :) So onto some kind of content maybe? I was thinking that when we were all together we pretty much always knew what each other were reading, watching, or otherwise doing for enjoyment. I often found new things to enjoy because I saw that you enjoyed them. Then I thought we could have an enjoyment and entertainment check up now if we wanted! So what are you doing right now in your spare time and why do you like doing it?

My activities include but are not limited to:

Reading
American Grace - a long but facinating book on religion in the United States, how different congregations function, what people in them think, what others think about them, and how this affects our culture.
Hyperbole and a Half (no link or explanation needed) - Thanks Ruth!

Television... Really? yep
Sherlock - Sherlock Holmes set in the 21st century. Sounds meh doesn't it? But it is created/written by Steven Moffat! And everyone knows the best Doctor Who episodes are always the ones he writes. The writing here is exactly what you'd expect from Moffat--intricate, character driven, and gripping.

Occasional visits to someone in Indiana--because I can :) Your turn....

Pressuring

We all want things. In many cases, other people do not want the things we want. So we want them to want what we want.

We've all put down a book or walked out of a movie so life-changing that you can't even see straight. Your first impulse, after the initial rush has died down, is to seize the first person you see and shout "You have to see this! You'll love it! It will change your life and you'll never be sad again."

Despite your evangelical zeal, they don't seem to take your endorsement very seriously (maybe it had something to do with your glazed eyes and dribble of drool). Instead of running to the nearest bookstore and buying this book (as they should) they promise to get to it next week. Three weeks later, you've left fridge reminders, passive-aggressively asked them about it multiple times, and finally physically handed them a copy with your physical hands. But they still haven't read it. Why, they even seem to be (gasp!) avoiding it!

You've casually recommended them books before and they liked them. What the heck is their problem now?!

Why do enthusiastic endorsements backfire?

Let's empathize

See through their eyes.

It might be helpful to think of an instance when someone tried to convert you to one of their preferences and failed. What did they do wrong? For instance when your mother mentions "that nice girl down the street", and shoots a significant glance your way. Or when an old mentor figure hands you a sacred dog-eared tome along with the solemn sanction to read and ingest its wholesomeness, as they and their father before them has done.

These are people we care about. People whose opinion we respect, who have our best interests at heart.

Why exactly then are we so uneasy to take their advice?

Ok, we've spent some time on the other side of the table. Let's switch back to your perspective. Why didn't your friend take your recommendation?

It's a matter of taste

Specifically, mine vs. yours.

Believe it or not, but people have different preferences, and what is to one man the very essence of hilarity is to another just a British kid biting his bro's finger. And often that's ok. We like that, know that and respect that. But if you've gone batcrazy about this book, your friend might have decided to skirt around the edges of the issue rather than face the full fury of your evangelicalized fervor. "I haven't had time to read it" is easier to say than "I don't think I'll like it, and given your level of fanaticism, I never intend to risk our friendship on finding out."

And so, depending on the situation, a fanatic endorsement can be less effective than a casual one[1]. The more you hype something the higher the stakes. And from your friend's perspective*. If I tell you I hate it, I make you sad. If I tell you I like it (or tolerate it), you try to make me vice-president of the fan club. It's a lose-lose situation, and the risk of losing friendship is higher than any potential gain of maybe reading a good book.

You might as well be playing high-stakes poker with friends. It doesn't matter whether I lose the money or win the money and lose the friends, I'm losing either way. The only winning move is not to play[2].

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation

Being coerced lowers our intrinsic motivation

If you know me, you've probably heard me talk about intrinsic motivation. Some things (like reading, eating, calling friends) you do because you find them inherently rewarding, you are intrinsically motivated. Other things (going to work, driving the speed limit, showering[3]) you do because there are external factors, or extrinsic motivations (money, social pressure) which push you to do them.

Studies have shown that if you pay somebody to do something, they don't like to do it as much. This is true even if you're paying kids to play videogames. Yes, you heard me right. Pay kids to play videogames, and they won't like playing videogames as much. They'll probably do it more, but like it a little less. When you have to do something to get paid, your ulterior motives take the edge off the enjoyment.[4]

In one study, they rewarded school kids for eating certain veggie or fruit portions during lunch. And surprise! The kids ate more of their specified rewarded-food.

BUT!

They liked that food less. And they still liked it less 7 months later. So you can pay your picky kid to eat beans, but he'll stop when the cash runs out, and he'll likely dislike beans for the rest of a long time.

This means that not only can pressuring/extorting someone to Do Thing can backfire, even simply paying them to Do Thing can backfire. It might work in the short-term, but you lose in the long-term.

I can't go into it attribution theory as much as I'd like, but let's leave it at this: The more pressure you're under, the more you'll think "I did it to get so-and-so off my back" and the less you'll think " I did it for its own sake".

People like to have control over their own lives

And don't appreciate you taking it from them

Whaaaaatt?? I know right? Whooda thunk?

When you give advice, that's fine. When you invite, that's also cool. But when you take a piece of cake and jam it down my throat with a toilet plunger, don't be hurt when I can't compliment the flavor. I probably  can't even taste it because I'm picking chunks of it out of my lungs.

I've fallen into this trap myself before. I think a few of my friends still have minor panic attacks when they hear the title of my favorite book, for fear I'll jump out from behind a corner and throw it at their head. This is a valuable lesson. Try to force a person to like it, and they'll hate it. Sad as it is, my pressuring and cajoling has permanently filed "Joseph's favorite book" under "Items that Provoke Intense Fear" in their brains. It's hard to enjoy something after that.

And as we learned from Intrinsic Motivation, even when terror is not an issue, influencing other people's attitudes is complicated, man.

So how do you convince them? Unlike many other kinds of human interaction, this is not coercion, this is not strong-arming.  I can force you to eat pickled beats, but you'll still hate pickled beats and you'll hate me even more. Forcing a person to do something is easy; you want them to like it. How do you do that?

I'll… uh-- I'll tell you next week. I'm sorry. Really sorry. Frankly, I'm surprised you've kept reading this monstrosity of rambleness this long[5]. The only explanation I can think of is that you await with a burning hunger for the secret to manipulating your friends like clay, or sock puppets.

Well, tune in next week folks!

[1]Under some circumstances. As always there are exceptions and I overly caveat all things I say.

[2]As Joshua would certainly tell you.

[3]Just for you, Ruth.

[4] Anecdotally, I've heard basketball players say the game becomes less fun once it's no longer a game.

[5] I should have cut that chunk about intrinsic/extrinsic, shouldn't've I? Or at least axed the redundancy of the forced vegetable consumption scenarios.

Your turn

So, I had another word for us to reflect on, but I decided it needed more thought process. It was like the cookies I made the other day: burnt on the bottom and uncooked at the top. 

So, rather than ruin that idea, I found an alternative. It's your turn to do an analytical decision.

Below is a scene. In a concise manner, describe the tone/theme of the picture. Rather than physical setting/"what is happening", describe what thoughts it provokes in you. 

Simplicity and a Complex World

Yes it's Sunday. But I'm posting...

I've been thinking today about the power of seeking to comprehend and view correctly a complex world while simultaneously realizing and acting as if key small and simple things are actually the foundation upon which great complexity and achievement are built.

It is easy to get lost in the complexity, grandeur and difficulty of the world and perhaps even easier to decide that there are simple truths and therefore everything is simple and straightforward. The first conclusion can lead to pride in one's own knowledge or complete despair in the impossibility of it all. The latter can lead to the exact same ends through different routes--pride because it is simple and if you'd just listen to me and despair when one follows a formula to the letter and things don't work out as expected.

The world is vey complex, and yet this complexity often grows from very simple things. How do you fold a protein precisely after assembling the DNA or form perfect crystals? It turns out you don't have to. The order arises as you add the necessary components. But if you don't ever have salt water within a given temperature and concentration range, you don't end up with salt crystals. Initial starting conditions matter greatly.

One way of saying this is that a very small turning of the smallest helm of a ship--a matter of a few degrees--determines whether it will land in California or Peru. Another is 'by small and simple things, great things come to pass'. Out of simplicity grows complexity. What simple things I focus on determine what I will learn, do, and become.

Whenever I feel my life is out of balance, I usually find that an inventory of the simple things I know I need to do comes up lacking. The converse is also true. When I am happy with life I am focusing on the simple things that matter.

When we focus on the important, but simple things first, we begin to build the capacity for handling complexity, and what was once complex begins to appear more achievable ans simple.

Now I'm not saying that the world becomes more simple, or that if you just do these five things you will be rich, content, intelligent, happy, and carefree. That would imply that life, the universe, everything really IS simple and not complex at all. (The answer is 42 by the way.)

Rather, if we'll determine what really matters and then focus on that, then the rest will seem easier and we will be able to, in the long run, and on average, build to become the people we desire to be.

What small and simple things matter to me? Glad you asked.

How sincere are my prayers? Am I having scripture study? Am I thinking about and taking the time to serve others? Am I remembering to eat and be organized? (yeah, I forget to eat sometimes :) Am I taking time for those I love? Am I taking note of how they are doing and strengthening family ties?

Am I writing? Particularly journal writing? (ouch) Am I taking the time to REMEMBER while making sure to live in the present? Am I learning, working, and serving?

Well that's a start. What small things do you find important personally at this time in your life?

Saturday is a special day (and now it's mine)

I'm stealing Saturday. I hope no one minds overmuch.

So this post was originally going to be about winter. I was going to write about the hour or so I spent shoveling snow this morning (which was actually very satisfying), finishing my parking area just as more snow started falling. I was going to gripe about the negative temperatures (if this doesn't make you feel better about your current situation, I have no idea what will). I was going to soliloquize on regrettable choices (mine specifically), wondering what drove me to this frozen wasteland (and why exactly it took me two and a half winters to question it as a life plan). Seriously, it was going to be great.

As it turns out however, I actually talked to about half of you (my lovely family) on the phone today and already kind of spilled my entire rant. The rest of you have heard it before anyway.

But never fear(!): I came up with a new idea that is even better! This post will be about......

About.....

(Just give me a minute)

Um... Cats? Nail clippings? Crosswords? Inspiration?

Sorry, I've got nothing. I remember thinking as a kid that inspiration was all about mood, that there was little point trying to create if you just weren't feeling it (don't judge too harshly; I was seven). In the intervening years, I have decided that said philosophy is completely ridiculous. Creating something (as I'm sure you are all aware) is about work and time too. And honestly, I didn't put in the time to be inspired. This post is my consequence. But, as I spent my afternoon talking to you all instead, I catalog it under Time Well Spent.