Posted on 10/07/2026 4:01:12 AM PDT by Pontiac
Human beings tend to be anthropocentric.
That is, we often see ourselves as evolution's magnum opus despite the fact that, as biomass goes, we're insignificant compared to plants and other animals.
For instance, scientists estimate that there are more than three trillion trees on Earth—a number that even dwarfs the amount of stars in our galaxy. And when you add the populations of the more than 380,000 other plant species, the total becomes mind-boggling.
Nonetheless, many of us assume that we're the smartest, most conscious beings on Earth.
But what if consciousness isn't a feature limited solely to humans—and what if we're actually wildly outnumbered by a planet full of other conscious beings? As it turns out, a handful of studies suggest that might just be the case.
For starters, plant neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso, PhD, notes that plants respond to anesthesia the same way humans do—they become nonresponsive.
Humans tend to think of plants as nonresponsive anyway, because they don't generally move in human timescales.
But when scientists have administered anesthesia to plants that do operate "quickly" by human measures, such as the Venus Flytrap, the plant stops responding when flies land on it.
And while you won't see a plant fleeing danger the way we do, some have been found to be gradually migrating north as the planet warms, just as animals are changing their migratory patterns.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
I think that saying that a plant expanding its range is a 'migration' is a bit of a stretch. And of course there must be a reference to Global Warming in every science article.
It is a very interesting, thought provoking article.
It is an old article but I did not find it in several searches.
I think it’s so much dorm room bullsqueeze.
YMMV.
Can’t eat animals.
Can’t eat plants.
We need to develop photosynthesis. By lunchtime.
To declare something conscious, consciousness must first be defined. We’ll wait...
“....We May Be Surrounded by Trillions of Conscious Beings, Research Suggests—And They Aren’t Human...”
They are called democrats.
Seeds fall on the ground or are carried by birds. They’ll grow if conditions are favorable or they will not. It’s not indicative of Treebeard however.
All kinds of won’t ditney memes in this screed.
Adds added substanance to an already bleeding heart,
libs and dims and vigs and a lot moreacronyms in the minority squeeking like rats do.
The observable universe contains roughly 2 trillion galaxies, about 10²² to 10²⁴ stars, and septillions of planets (10²⁴ or more).
Observable Universe: Estimated at 2 trillion (2 × 10¹²) galaxies.
Milky Way (Our Home): Contains ~100 billion to 400 billion stars and is part of a local group.
Fun Fact: There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all of Earth’s beaches.
Milky Way: At least 100 billion planets (averaging at least one planet per star), plus rogue planets floating free of any star.
Confirmed Exoplanets (Outside Solar System): Over 6,000 confirmed by space telescopes like Kepler and TESS/Gaia equivalents.
Problem is, there is no intelligent life on earth!
Can’t eat animals.
Can’t eat plants.
We need to develop photosynthesis. By lunchtime.
///
Lol !!!!
That sure went to the top of my vegetarian retort list fast.
Kudos
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
--- Genesis 1:27-31 KJV
Thirty years ago, when I was doing Ultra Depth Hypnosis, beings who were not from our solar system stopped by quite frequently. In an Ultra Depth trance, a person becomes aware of beings without physical bodies. It was a real education.
The same techniques allowed communication with Angelic Beings.
LOL!
Great, now the trees told me to do it.
God created woman and stated “I will put beautiful obedient women in all the corners of the earth. And then He proceeded to make the earth round!
Saying that democrats are Conscious is bit of a stretch.
Consciousness requires reasoning ability which they lack.
“We need to develop photosynthesis. By lunchtime.”
Many years I had a vision where the Krebs Cycle merged with the Calvin Cycle.
Krebs Cycle is a series of chemical reactions that cells use to release energy from food during aerobic respiration so the physical body has fuel to function. (Consumes O2 and yields CO2)
The Calvin cycle is a series of light-independent chemical reactions where plants, algae, and some bacteria use energy from ATP and NADPH to turn carbon dioxide into carbohydrates so a plant has energy to function. The Calvin Cycle is not the same as photosynthesis, but rather a specific part of it. (Consumes CO2 and yields O2)
“But what if consciousness isn’t a feature limited solely to humans”
Consciousness moves into the fertilized egg and guides it to form the zygote and develop into a human body. It then uses the human body as a projection screen to communicate at lower levels of consciousness. When consciousness departs the physical body, it is dead and cellular transcription and replication stops.
In many ways, the physical body is just a seed pod, planted here in the darkness of the earth, to sprout and grow as a soul. Graduation is not death, Transcendence is graduation.
I’d put the intellect of a mosquito up against Sunny Hostin any day.
After 70 years of intensive neuro research, we still don’t know where consciousness lives.
There may be other conscious creatures. But we are the only ones who have The Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.