“Plant Neuroscientists” and Plant Consciousness

Several “plant neuroscientists” have written papers claiming that plants have intelligence and cognition and experience pain and other feelings. This is not the work of crackpots but of reputable scientists writing in professional journals.

It started in 2006 with an article in the scientific journal Trends in Plant Science by E.D. Brenner titled “Plant Neurobiology: An Integrated View of Plant Signaling.” In 2009, Frantisek Baluska claimed that root tips were “a brain-like command center.” In 2016, Monica Gagliano claimed to have demonstrated Pavlov-type classical conditioning in pea plants. The following year, she wrote that plants have an “internal value system” and use “feelings” to “motivate their choices.”

Plant neuroscientists accuse scientists who reject their claims of being “animal chauvinists.” The reality is that if you reject eating plants because they have feelings and experience pain, you will also have to reject eating insects or animals of any kind, such as fish, birds, or even farm animals. That leaves you with nothing to eat.

Genesis 1:29 finds God telling Adam and Eve, “I have given you every herb bearing seed … and every tree in which there is fruit for food.” In Genesis 9:3, God told Noah, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you even as the green plant I have given you.” God gave humans the capacity to have adequate food and challenged us to manage His environment with intelligence and respect.

Scientific evidence shows that what plant neuroscientists interpret as consciousness is a misunderstanding of the design God built into plants. It is well known that sunflower blooms will turn to follow the Sun from sunrise to sunset. Are the sunflowers thinking and acting on their thoughts? Of course not! This function is programmed into the plants to give them maximum sunlight exposure.

We have all seen plants wilt when they are too dry or hot. Is this the result of feeling pain or thinking out the need to reduce leaf area? An intelligent Creator hard-wired these responses into their DNA. Animals have consciousness because of a complex nervous system and a brain system that oversees the neural pathways. Conscious responses to pain help animals and humans survive.

I have known people who talk to their plants and claim that it makes the plants grow better. I must admit that I have talked to my car when it wasn’t working. Whether plants or cars, our conversations are really for our own benefit, not the thing we are taking to. We tend to anthropomorphize plants and cars, giving them human attributes. God has designed plants to feed us, shade us, and show us beauty, but they are not created like us and are not to be worshipped.

— John N. Clayton © 2024
Reference: Skeptical Inquirer for September/October 2024, pages 21-23.