"The typical way that plants communicate is through chemicals that they release through their leaves and roots," says James Westwood, a plant physiologist at Virginia Tech and a co-author of the study. "So to find out that there is an exchange of RNA" — the intermediary form of genetic information that fills the gap between DNA and proteins — "is a new concept that hasn’t been explored at all."
The headlines of this article demonstrate a reliance on binary thought:
Scientists think they've discovered an entirely new mode of plant communication
And parasitic species might be using it for espionage
Rather than conceiving these plants are already mixed up, we start with the idea that the plant species are separate. This gives rise to metaphors of hacking and espionage. If the plants are actually both part of something else at the start, the options for understanding change. But the narrowly understood rational mentation, which assumes everything is isolated, then can only imagine one of two options. I can only guess at an alternate vista, which I do merely to make my complaint clear-- What if these two plants are actually collaborating on something new which will become apparent in a different climate. Whatever.
My point is the thinking process of the scientists, not the, also quite fascinating, plants in question.
And parasitic species might be using it for espionage
Rather than conceiving these plants are already mixed up, we start with the idea that the plant species are separate. This gives rise to metaphors of hacking and espionage. If the plants are actually both part of something else at the start, the options for understanding change. But the narrowly understood rational mentation, which assumes everything is isolated, then can only imagine one of two options. I can only guess at an alternate vista, which I do merely to make my complaint clear-- What if these two plants are actually collaborating on something new which will become apparent in a different climate. Whatever.
My point is the thinking process of the scientists, not the, also quite fascinating, plants in question.
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