Do fruits cry out when we take a bite? What about when we pluck them from the vine or stem?
Do our vegetables shriek when we chop them up for a recipe?
Does produce feel pain?
A friend was trying to convince me of exactly that earlier this week. For a split second I froze as he said: “Your orange just screamed… Haven’t you read online? Scientists are looking into plant pain, and some think plants can talk.”
I had just surgically sectioned a Valencia orange and savored the first bite. Did my orange scream? Do plants feel pain?
Believe Half of What You See and…
This same friend also told me he was of Viking descent, which I utterly dismissed. (Wouldn’t you?)
It turned out to be true. Still, who doesn’t need a reminder that we should believe “half of what we see and none of what we hear?”
Plants feel pain?
Uh-huh.
Gullible? Moi?
The fact is – I am gullible. When my chuckling pal was done with his teasing, he insisted I search the web for articles on plant sensitivity, though frankly I was more interested in researching my own gullibility – specifically the psychology behind it.
Candid Camera?
Setting aside the possibility that Alan Funt Junior was about to knock on my front door, I found this little offering from the UK Daily Mail: “Plants can talk, say scientists.” Its in-depth investigative journalism (not) reveals that plants (or the fruit they bear) don’t scream… exactly. However, when plants feel they’re under attack, they emit various gasses that produce sounds.
And my orange? Might there have been a high-pitched wail I couldn’t hear as I enjoyed its sweetness, juice running down my fingers, and oh so pleased with myself for such a healthy snack?
Many gardeners talk to their plants or play them music. Why do we do that unless we acknowledge that it does them good? What if they really can feel pain?
Of course, it is generally recognized that a central nervous system is required in order to feel pain – and last I heard, plants don’t happen to have one of those.
Psychology of Gullibility
Shall we turn our attention to my own capacity for believing whatever I am told as long as it is presented with a straight face? My trusting nature? The big target sign on my T-shirts that must say Tease Me?
According to this document from Columbia University on the psychology of gullibility, we can blame the abundance of information now available as part of our problem discerning what is real from what is not. Relying on one’s own “system” of beliefs is also mentioned – in other words, our personal angels, routines, charms, or superstitions. The article refers to a variety of areas of “pseudoscience,” the result of
the human propensity to accept ideas at face value – no matter how illogical… Psychologists agree that all belief systems… ease anxiety about the human condition, and provide the illusion of security, predictability, control, and hope in an otherwise chaotic world.
And many include religion in the list of such belief systems, noting that our beliefs change the way we process data.
But is this the same as gullibility?
I don’t think so, especially after being advised that my delight in spinach salad and assorted berries routinely came at the expense of a plant-life post-mortem.
Gullibility is the state of being
easily duped or cheated
In other words, being wide-eyed and overly trustful results in being more easily exploited. Some of us learn hard lessons and become less gullible with the years. (Or so we hope.)
Overly Trusting? Overly Cautious?
Interestingly, when you know yourself to be gullible or too trusting, it can breed a sort of distrust at the same time, though usually after being burned.
Often. (Hello, Divorce Court?)
Those of us who realize we’re too trusting may develop a wariness as a sort of guard rail to our own tendency to be fooled. It’s a strange contradiction – to be suspicious or cautious while also gullible.
That said, I will admit I am not spending scads of time on the plant pain polemic. Perhaps that’s callous of me, but I plan on having salad and fruit again tomorrow.
I’ll listen closely, and let you know if I hear any protestations.
Are you gullible? Are you superstitious? Do you believe in “pseudoscience” (astrology, psychics, etc.)? Do you believe plants feel pain?
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I hope I err on the side of skepticism, but I won’t say I haven’t fallen for some hoaxes. I think most of the statements made by advertisers of products are probably at the very best a stretch of a small truth, particularly for food or beauty products. Even serious scientists I know sometimes get swept up by marketing when it is outside their area of expertise. It’s hard to keep up the tough outlook, impossible to follow all the research. I start from the premise that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And what if plants felt pain? Humans have to eat to live…would we start administering anesthetic at the farm or in the kitchen?
And I’m over here, sitting smugly and smiling that if the scientists are indeed right, what WILL the vegetarians eat? Yes. I have a weird and twisted sense of humor.
I like the saying, “Trust & Verify”.
I believe it was a very smart woman who told me to Assume Nothing. So looking up facts doesn’t seem too far fetched in today’s world. After all, everything they put on the internet is true, right???
@DejaVow – “trust & verify” – love it!
Sounds like that scene from Notting Hill where the Hugh Grant character dates a fruitarian — fruits and vegetables have feeling so cooking is cruel — only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush – that are, in fact, dead already.
Exactly, Gwoman!
I’m firmly in the skeptic camp including our human spiritual tendencies. To me, the beauty of our evolved brain; its pattern recognition, its defects in perception, and its complexity contribute to belief in falsehoods. Luckily humanity has developed the social process called science that allows us to improve our knowledge of the world albeit with occasional mistakes (that eventually get corrected as data is collected and young scientists replace old scientists).
The other aspect of being gullible is that other people take advantage of this for good purposes (amazing magic tricks) and bad purposes (profit motive). My barber was telling me about a cleansing program where you take a sequence of daily pills and the toxins “leave” your body through your urine and how amazing it was to see the improvement during the program (urine changes from cloudy to normal over time). I suggested to him that he try taking the pills in reverse order next time to ensure it wasn’t just a series of urine clouding pills; sure enough he reported the opposite effect and he never wasted his money again. The foot toxin bathes are likely the same thing, as the water cools, it is likely just a chemical change where a precipitate cannot stay dissolved in the cooling water giving the appearance that the bath is removing toxins from your feet. Buyer beware.
As for plants having nervous systems, a Venus Fly Trap has a primitive chemical nervous system that allows it to close on a fly when it lands inside; how this works is beyond me but it provides a beautiful example that our belief that plants feel no pain has some subtlety.
Buyer Beware indeed, batticus. The Venus Flytrap is an interesting example, yes. (There was a Smithsonian video clip on ether ozone a mimosa plant that was interesting, though I felt a bit sorry for the plant. None of this stopped me fr enjoying my orange, however.) 😉
I am also over trusting. My former business suffered because of this and it brought on a lot of anxiety and time/money spent with attorneys. I was the subcontractor that gave everyone benefit of the doubt and shook hands instead of signing contracts one too many times. It is a great trait to have but one that will take you for everything you’ve got if not monitored carefully. I guess I needed to be a little more jaded sooner than I was. I’m sure I wreak of jadedness now, lol. Very good and enjoyable post. Thank you for the smiles.