Plant mind

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Surprisingly, back in 1970, 46 years ago, in the country's central newspaper Pravda with its millions of circulations, an article was published "What the leaves tell us", refuting the official view of plant biology …

Below is another article on the same topic, published in the magazine "Knowledge-Power" in 1972 by Venimamin Noevich Pushkin.

The author was one of the few who decided to set foot on the minefield of the new science. And it almost exploded: after receiving completely sensational results, the persecution of the scientist by orthodox Soviet philosophers began on the pages of the journal Voprosy Filosofii, they wanted to deprive the scientist of all titles and merit, expel him from science, and only the intercession of the greatest Soviet scientists, among whom was Academician Rauschenbach, who took part in documenting the phenomenon of extrasensory abilities of Ninel Kulagina, saved the scientist's reputation.

Here is what the Soviet writer Vladimir Soloukhin wrote about this in his collection "Grass". He was dumbfounded no less than the very fact of the presence of intelligence in plants, the lack of reaction of human intelligence to such a phenomenal, fundamental fact:

But it’s written in black and white in a newspaper with a circulation of several million copies, and no one called each other in excitement, no one shouted into the telephone receiver in a choking voice:

- Have you heard ?! Plants feel, plants hurt, plants scream, plants remember everything!

Flower, answer me

Perhaps the best place for me to start is with one detective story. It was told to the world by the American criminologist Baxter.… There was a killer and there was a victim. There was a fact of death. And there were even witnesses to the crime. Fortunately, there was no human being involved as the victim in this murder. The killer took the life … of a shrimp. The story Baxter told contained a description of the model of the crime, not the crime itself. But that didn't make her less interesting.

Baxter, by the nature of his direct professional occupations, conducted experiments with the so-called lie detector. Readers have probably heard a lot about this psychological way of solving crimes. It is inappropriate to describe it in detail. This is a system of thin electronic devices with which you can register the emotional processes occurring with a person. If a suspect in a crime, when shown something related to a crime, finds excitement, the likelihood of his guilt increases.

One day, Baxter had a highly unusual idea: to put the sensors on a leaf of a houseplant. He wanted to find out if an electrical reaction would arise in the plant at the moment when a living creature would die nearby

The experiment was organized as follows. Live shrimp was placed on a plank fixed above a vessel with boiling water. This tablet turned over in a minute, unknown even to the experimenter himself. For this, a random number generator was used. The machine worked - the shrimp fell into boiling water and died. A mark appeared on the polygraph tape. On this tape I recorded the electrical state of a plant leaf. Experiments have registered: a leaf of a flower at the time of death of a shrimp changed the course of electrical processes.

… We, the people of the stormy events of the 20th century, will be surprised by a lot: too much new unexpected comes to us from the pages of newspapers and magazines. Still, very few people would be completely indifferent to Baxter's results. Plants are witnesses to the crime! This is perceived as some kind of grandiose sensation. In the form of just such a sensation (which is hard to believe, but which is very interesting to read about), this fact has bypassed newspapers and magazines in many countries. And in this noise of great sensation, only a narrow circle of specialists recalled that similar experiments had already been carried out and that it was precisely those old experiments that were of fundamental importance for a whole complex of modern sciences.

… Studies of the great Indian scientist J. C. Boss [Jagadish Chandra Bose Jagadish Chandra Bose, 1858 - 1937 - Indian botanist and physicist.], The work of Soviet researchers Professor I. I. Gunar and V. G. Karmanov established: plants have their own senses, they are able to perceive, process and store information about the outside world. Only in the future will we fully appreciate the enormous significance of this remarkable research for various industries. It turns out that “psyche” (in a very special, not yet precisely defined sense of the word) exists in living cells devoid of a nervous system. Can you believe it?

… For many centuries, researchers believed that plants do not need a psyche: they do not have the organs of movement that animals have even at an early stage of their development. And since there are no organs of movement, then there is no behavior either: after all, it is to control them that mental processes are needed. It is in the cells of this nervous system, in neurons, that processes such as perception, memory and everything that is commonly called the terms “psyche” and “mental activity” originating from ancient times take place. True, the responses of plants to the influences of the outside world have long been known. The sundew, for example, responds to the touch of insects; it catches them with the help of special motor devices.

Some plants open their flowers to the rays of light. All of this is very similar to the simple reflexes of animals in response to external stimulation. It looks like … but …

And suddenly it turns out: plants are able to distinguish between rather complex objects of the external world. And not only to distinguish, but also to react to them by changing the electrical potentials. Moreover, in form and nature, these electrical phenomena are close to the processes occurring in the human skin when he is experiencing a psychological event.

From the point of view of this truly staggering scientific data, the results of the American forensic scientist Baxter become quite understandable. Judging by the publications, his attempt was quite successful. It can be assumed that flowers and trees capture the perpetrator in their own language, fix him, remember the victim's suffering.

Flower sympathizes

But no matter how interesting this fact is in terms of acute human relations, studies of information processes in plants are of interest to scientists from a completely different point of view. This raises a question of great theoretical importance - what significance can these results have for the science of the inner world of man?

But first of all, I would like to tell you about the research in plant psychology that I myself was a participant in. These search experiments were started by VM Fetisov, an employee of our laboratory. It was he who introduced me to the publications on the Baxter effect. He brought a flower from home, an ordinary geranium, and began experiments with it. In the opinion of colleagues from neighboring laboratories, our experiments seemed more than strange. Indeed, an encephalograph was used to experiment with colors. It is usually used to study electrical phenomena in the cells of the human brain. With the help of the same device it is possible to record the electrical reaction of the skin; it is called "galvanic skin reflex" (GSR). It occurs in a person and a moment of excitement, when solving mental problems, psychological stress.

In order to record the GSR of a person with the help of an encephalograph, it is enough, for example, to put two electrodes: one on the palm, the other on the back of the hand. In the encephalograph there is an ink-writing device, its pen writes a straight line on the tape. When, at the moment of a psychological event, an electrical potential difference arises between the electrodes, the pen of the device begins to move up and down. A straight line on the tape gives way to waves. This is the human galvanic skin reflex.

In experiments with plants, we installed the electrodes of the device in the same way as in experiments with humans. Only instead of a human hand, the surfaces of the sheet were used. Who knows what the fate of psychological and botanical experiments would have been if a graduate student from Bulgaria Georgiy Angushev had not appeared in our laboratory. He studied at the graduate school of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after V. I. Lenin. Now, when G. Angushev brilliantly defended his Ph. D. thesis in psychology, and left for his homeland, all laboratory staff remember him as a talented researcher and a good, charming person.

Georgy Angushev had a lot of merits. But he had one thing that was especially important for us - he was a good hypnotist. It seemed to us that the hypnotized person will be able to more directly and directly affect the plant. From the whole circle of people who were hypnotized by Georgy Angushev, we chose those who were the best susceptible to hypnosis.… But even with this more than a limited circle of subjects it was necessary to work for a long time before the first encouraging results were obtained.

But above all, why was it advisable to use hypnosis? If a plant is generally capable of responding to the psychological state of a person, then most likely it will respond to a strong emotional experience. And fear, joy, sadness? How do I get them on order? Under hypnosis, our difficulties could be eliminated. A good hypnotist is able to awaken the most varied and, moreover, rather strong experiences in a person who has been put to sleep. The hypnotist is able to include, as it were, the emotional sphere of a person. This is exactly what was required for our experiments.

So, the protagonist of the experiments is the student Tanya. She was planted in a comfortable chair about eighty centimeters from the flower. Electrodes were placed on this flower. VM Fetisov "wrote" on an encephalograph. Our subject was distinguished by an unusually lively temperament and direct emotionality. Perhaps it is this open emotionality, the ability to quickly emerging and strong enough feelings and ensured the success of the experiments.

So, the first series of experiments. The subject was told that she was very beautiful. A joyful smile appears on Tanya's face. With all her being, she shows that the attention of others really pleases her. In the midst of these pleasant experiences, the flower's first reaction was recorded: the feather drew a wavy line on the ribbon.

Immediately after this experiment, the hypnotist said that a strong cold wind suddenly flew in, that suddenly it became very cold and uncomfortable around. Tanya's facial expressions changed dramatically. The face became sad, sad. She began to tremble, like a person suddenly found in the cold in light summer clothes. The flower was not slow to react by changing the line to this too.

After these two successful experiments, a break was made, the tape of the device continued to move, and the pen continued to record the straight line of the flower. During the entire fifteen-minute break, while the subject was calm and cheerful, the flower did not show any "disturbance." The line remained straight.

After a break, the hypnotist began again with a cold wind. To the cold wind, he added some more evil person … he is approaching our test subject. The suggestion worked quickly - our Tatiana became worried. The flower reacted immediately: instead of a straight line from under the pen of the device, a wave characteristic of a galvanic skin reaction appeared. And then Georgy Angushev immediately switched to pleasant feelings. He began to suggest that the cold wind had stopped, that the sun had come out, that it was warm and pleasant around. And instead of an evil person, a cheerful little boy approaches Tatiana. The subject's facial expressions changed. The flower again gave its wave of GSR.

…So what is next? Then we got the electrical reaction of the flower as many times as we wanted. At our signal, in a completely random and arbitrary order, Angushev instilled in his subject either positive or negative feelings. Another test flower invariably gave us the "desired" reaction.

The critical assumption that this link between human senses and flower responses does not actually exist, that plant responses are caused by random stimuli, has been rejected by ad hoc testing. In the intervals between experiments, we at different times turned on an encephalograph with electrodes on the flower. The encephalograph worked for hours and did not detect the reaction recorded in the experiments. In addition, the electrodes of other channels of the encephalograph were hung here, in the laboratory. After all, somewhere nearby there could be electrical interference, and the full on the tape of our device could be the result of this purely electrical effect.

We repeated our experiments many times and all with the same results. An experiment was made with lie detection, which is widely used in foreign forensic science. This experiment was organized as follows. Tatiana was asked to think of some number from one to ten. The hypnotist agreed with her that she would carefully hide the planned number. After that, they began to enumerate numbers from one to ten. She met the name of each date with a decisive "No!" It was difficult to guess what number she had in mind … The flower gave a reaction to the number "5" - the one that Tanya had in mind.

… Complete detachment from templates

So, the flower and the person. It may sound paradoxical, but the responses of flower cells should help us understand how cells in the human brain work. Patterns of brain processes, underlying the human psyche, are still far from their full disclosure. So we have to look for new research methods. The unusualness of the "flower" methods should neither confuse nor stop the researcher; what if with the help of such methods it will be possible to take at least a small step in revealing the secrets of the brain.

Here I recall one, unfortunately, little known to a wide circle of readers letter from Ivan Petrovich Pavlov. This letter was written back in March 1914 on the occasion of the opening of the Moscow Institute of Psychology. It was addressed to the founder of the institute, a well-known Russian psychologist, professor of Moscow University GI Chelpanov. Here is this wonderful document.

“After the glorious victories of science over the dead world, it was the turn of the development of the living world, and in it the crown of earthly nature - the activity of the brain. The task at this last point is so unspeakably large and complex that all the resources of thought are required: absolute freedom, complete detachment from templates, as many points of view and modes of action as possible, etc., to ensure success. All thought workers, from whatever side they approach the subject, all will see something to their own share, and sooner or later the shares of all will add up to the solution of the greatest task of human thought …"

And then follow the significant words, words addressed to the psychologist, showing the true attitude of the great physiologist to psychological science: “That is why I, excluding the slightest mention of subjective states in my laboratory work on the brain, heartily greet your Psychological Institute and you, as its creator and the creator, and I sincerely wish you complete success."

It's not hard to see how modern this letter, written over a century ago, sounds. The call of the great scientist to search for new methods of ways in uncovering the secrets of the brain, in solving "the greatest task of human thought" is especially relevant now, when representatives of different branches of science are taking an integrated approach to the work of the brain, this, according to I. P. Pavlov, is the crown of the earth nature. The experience of the development of natural science, especially physics, has shown that one should not be afraid of new discoveries, no matter how paradoxical these discoveries may seem at first glance.

What did the flowers tell about …

And now the conclusions. The first conclusion: a living plant cell (flower cell) reacts to the processes occurring in the nervous system (human emotional state). This means that there is a certain commonality of processes that occur in plant cells and in nerve cells.

Here it is advisable to remember that in every living cell, including flower cells, the most complex information processes are carried out. For example, ribonucleic acid (RNA) reads information from a special genetic record and transmits this information to synthesize protein molecules. Modern research in cytology and genetics indicates that every living cell has a very complex information service.

What can a flower's reaction to a person's emotional state mean? Perhaps there is a certain connection between the two information services - the plant cell and the nervous system? The language of the plant cell is related to the language of the nerve cell. And in experiments with hypnosis, these completely different groups of cells communicated among themselves in this same language. They, these different living cells, turned out to be able, as it were, to "understand" each other.

But animals, as is now commonly believed, arose later than plants, and nerve cells are later formations than plant ones? Hence, it can be concluded that the information service of animal behavior arose from the information service of the plant cell.

One can imagine that in a plant cell, in the cell of our flower, in an undifferentiated, compressed form, processes akin to the psychic are taking place. This is evidenced by the results of J. C. Boss, I. I. Gunar and others. When in the process of development of a living creatures appeared with organs of movement, capable of independently obtaining food for themselves, another information service was needed. She had a different task - to build more complex models of objects of the external world.

Thus, it turns out that the human psyche, no matter how complex it is, our perception, thinking, memory - all this is just a specialization of the information service that takes place already at the level of the plant cell. This conclusion is very important. It allows you to approach the analysis of the problem of the origin of the nervous system.

And one more thought. Any information has a material form of existence … So, a novel or a poem, with all the characters and their experiences, cannot be perceived by readers if there are no sheets of paper with typographic signs. What is the informational matter of mental processes, for example, of human thought?

At different stages of the development of science, different scientists give different answers to this question. Some researchers consider the work of a nerve cell as an element of a cybernetic computer as the basis of the psyche. Such an element can be either enabled or disabled. With the help of this binary language of switched on and off cell elements, the brain, according to some scientists, is able to encode the outside world.

An analysis of the work of the brain shows, however, that with the help of the theory of the binary code it is impossible to explain the entire complexity of the processes taking place in the cerebral cortex. It is known that some cells of the cortex reflect light, others - sound and so on. So a cell of the cerebral cortex is able not only to be excited or inhibited, but also to copy different properties of objects of the surrounding world … But what about the chemical molecules of a nerve cell? These molecules can be found both in a living being and in a deceased being. As for mental phenomena, they are only a property of living nerve cells.

All this leads to the idea of subtle biophysical processes that take place in intracellular molecules. Apparently, it is with their help that psychological coding occurs. Of course, the provision on information biophysics can still be viewed as a hypothesis, moreover, a hypothesis that will not be so easy to prove. Note, however, that psycho-botanical experiments do not contradict her.

Indeed, a certain biophysical structure can be an irritant for a flower in the described experiments. Its release outside the human body occurs at the moment when a person experiences an acute emotional state. This biophysical structure carries information about a person. And then … the pattern of electrical phenomena in a flower is similar to the pattern of electrical phenomena in human skin.

I emphasize again and again: all this is so far only a field of hypotheses. One thing is certain: studies of plant-human contact can shed light on some of the fundamental problems of modern psychology. Flowers, trees, leaves, to which we are so accustomed, will contribute to the solution of the greatest problem of human thought, about which Pavlov wrote.

VN Pushkin, "Knowledge is power", N.11, 1972