Do plants feel pain?

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by icest0rm, Jul 15, 2003.

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  1. icest0rm Registered Senior Member

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    Is there solid evidence that plants do not feel any pain whatsoever?
     
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  3. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    yes, because they don't have a nervous system
     
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  5. everneo Re-searcher Registered Senior Member

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    Plants don't appear to have pain and pleasure. but some of them appear to be sensitive to touch viz., mimosa. When touched their leaves fold quickly to protect from possible damage.
     
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  7. Blindman Valued Senior Member

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    If plants did feel pain what would the poor vegans eat..
     
  8. DJSupreme23 neocortex activated Registered Senior Member

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    I agree with monkey. I dont believe plants have nerve cells.
     
  9. sargentlard Save the whales motherfucker Valued Senior Member

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    Then what about plants that react to their enviroment through stimulus...i.e The venus flytrap??
     
  10. Idle Mind What the hell, man? Valued Senior Member

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  11. Canute Registered Senior Member

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    Perhaps they feel pain via nastic movement, ie. via reversible and repeatable movements in response to a stimulus whose direction is determined by the anatomy of the plant.
     
  12. Dr Lou Natic Unnecessary Surgeon Registered Senior Member

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    I think they can feel discomfort in their own planty sort of way. Like if you pulled a plant out of the dirt it would notice it is no longer absorbing nutrients and think "dude, weak".
    But of course, it would think in plant language.
     
  13. Tenson Prime Registered Member

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    LOL! "Dude, weak."

    Even if plants did have a nervous system, who is to say that they feel "pain" as we percieve it. There are many things that may not feel pain but they do respond to stimuli.

    I've heard that some people listen to the trees and that they cry when they are say.

    You should not believe everything you hear.
     
  14. edtlov Registered Member

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    Plant communication

    I need scientific studies on communication between phsyically
    separated plants. The studies will show electrical changes
    in the bio-matter. Any help please.

    I have found that the transmission medium for the plants and animals is not in the EMF spectrum. I dont know what to call the
    spectrum the energy is apart of, "But" I do know that if you illicit a reaction from one bio unit and observe the electrical change of that bio unit, and the change in the 2nd bio unit, there should be
    a significant difference from there resting baseline state.
    I am also looking for cheap battery powered electronic equipment.
    such as ( LCD oscilliscope, frequency generator ) or a schematic
    to build said items. I have built an ELF antenna and it will
    pick up from 0 - 150 hz.
    I used my computer and a program that
    accesses the sound input and displays the signal from electrodes "But" I also
    pick up anything on the house lines as well... hair dryers ect.....
    That is why I need to find or build the battery powered equipment.
     
  15. paulsamuel Registered Senior Member

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    882
    bottom line

    depends on how you define 'pain'
     
  16. SwedishFish Conspirator Registered Senior Member

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    well if you're in ferngully than of course trees feel pain. you need that fairy healing magic to make them better again. "...it's raining like magic, it's pouring like starlight, it's raining magic, it's raining liiiiife!"

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!


    if you're pagan or christian there are spirits in trees that may be able to feel pain.
    i guess the ones that are going around saying dude in plant language can feel pain.
    but the other ones probably don't care. some plants grow better when pruned so i'm guessing they're not the ones saying dude.

    i like eating plants so i guess i'd have to come to terms with being a murderous monster if it were ever discovered that plants indeed feel pain when picked.
     
  17. Idle Mind What the hell, man? Valued Senior Member

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    I'm a level 5 vegan, I don't eat anything that casts a shadow. I suppose you don't pocket-mulch either.
     
  18. ripleofdeath Registered Senior Member

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    edtlov

    check out what giraffes eat!
    there is existing data

    why do they eat walking up wind

    good luck you could forge the next stage

    groove on

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  19. sargentlard Save the whales motherfucker Valued Senior Member

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    hehehe....Yes...funny...Simpsons rule....i am a wanna be vegan....fear me.

    I guess plants feel pain in way that tells them their life span is over...not pain like we feel...the horrible agonizing torture and the bleeding.
     
  20. Another God Registered Member

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    6
    With a central nervous system, I find it hard to believe they can 'Feel' anything.
    Stimulus response is not a feeling, it is a response, in much the same way as gene regulation can respond to stimulation....but how often to you feel your gene regulation?
     
  21. river-wind Valued Senior Member

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    ow! I think my chromosome 23 is acting up again..

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    I once heard on "All in the Family" while growing up that Rob Reiner's Charicter didn't eat brocoli because it had a nervous system. I have not heard anything to back this up, however. The wonders of television.

    Anyway, Plants certainly react to changes in their environment, beyond simple chemical and physical reactions. I have had tremendously difficult times with Ficus bonsai- they will drop their leaves for the smallest thing. put them in the sun, they drop. take them out of the sun, they drop. too much fertiliser, they drop. too little fertiliser... One tree I had kept dropping about a week after It had re-grown. finally figured out that the cat would only chew on it while there was bare branches. the tree would grow fine *while* the cat chewed on it a few times a day. once the leaves were full enough for the cat to loose interest, then all the leaves would curl up and fall of :bugeye:

    Also, plants grow statistically better around certain people, certain music, and if they are talked too. While this can all be explained by vibrational math, so can most human reactions to the same things. there doesn't seem to be much of a difference. Some plants, given the same water (automatic watering system), planted in the same place, will die while being looked after by a friend, despite no care changes have occured.


    plants are weird.


    edit:adding very strange story
    I have one dwarf willow tree which seems to change my dreaming pattern. When it is in my bedroom, I dream fewer, less emotionally intense dreams, between 3-5AM. When it is not in my bedroom, I dream more, and more virant dreams, between 6-9AM (none from 3-5AM). I have done fairly extensive studies of my own dream behavior, and the night this tree was in my bedroom for the first time, I had no dreams. at all. the only day in my life when I had no dreams. and I mean none. Usually, even if I can't remember the dreams, I can feel the effect of having had them. Imagine you have a mental illeness where you can't remember things which just happened a moment before. you come too one instant, hands on your knees, breathing hard, wearing a running outfit, standing in a park. Even though you don't remember running, it's still pretty clear what you were just up to. same deal. but with this tree, nothing. I left the tree for 3 weeks, and recorded my dream times, then moved the tree out of my room for a month. then back. certainly appears to be connected to the tree (though I could be causing it, and just timing it to the action of moving the tree. I don't know people are weird)
     
  22. LordAza Quantum Freak! Registered Senior Member

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    Perhaps the reason is maybe primal thought. With trees most people think nature. With nature they think undeveloped. With undeveloped the think wild. Ever went camping and couldn't sleep for fear of bears , three eyed fish, etc? Nature untamed is a primal thought in our brains. Perhaps it come from our ancient ancestors. Most were a tasty snack for preditors. "Glok reeks...Ung go sleep outside" Thus we have Glok the tree lover. Plants can't smell

    Anyways plants in general makes our minds think of outdoors.


    a primal trait (Thank them cavemen for it)

    :bugeye:
     
  23. paulsamuel Registered Senior Member

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    a comedien's perspective

    If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
    - Jack Handey (aka Jack Handy)
     
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