Mehta believes that plants deserve respect. He believes that conflating their qualities and abilities with those of humans is unnecessary anthropomorphization. Venturing into philosopher territory, he argues that to qualify as “conscious,” a thing must be aware of its self-awareness, or meta-conscious.
Danny Chamovitz, director of the Mana Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University in Israel, says that plants are neither conscious nor intelligent, although they are incredibly complex. Plant italy mobile number consciousness should not be confused with the human experience of existence. He tells Gizmodo: “All organisms, even bacteria, have to be able to find the exact niche that allows them to survive. It’s not something that’s unique to people. Are they self-aware? No. We care about plants, do plants care about us? No.”
The thing is, Chamovitz can't prove that plants don't care about us. No one can, really. We know that hugging trees literally makes us feel better. It has a medicinal effect. But we can't prove the reciprocity of this, whether plants love us or feel good when we care for them.
Green Philosophy
Philosopher Michael Marder, for his part, says we’re underestimating plants. The author of Plant Thinking: A Philosophy of Vegetal Life, Marder tells Gizmodo: “Plants are definitely conscious, albeit in a different way than we humans are.” He notes that plants are in tune with their environment and make many complex decisions, such as when to flower. Marder concludes: “If consciousness literally means being ‘aware,’ then plants fit the bill.”