Are Plants Farming Us?

I read something similar on Yuval Harari&#x27;s Homo Sapiens, where he suggests wheat domesticated humans not the other way around. An excerpt can be found here [1]. Whole essay is great but I especially liked this part:<p>&gt; The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ynharari.com&#x2F;topic&#x2F;ecology&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ynharari.com&#x2F;topic&#x2F;ecology&#x2F;</a>

What&#x27;s the point of the ugly genAI interstitial images? The blogging equivalent of wearing a dunce-cap.

Its a symbiotic relationship, we don&#x27;t survive without them and they don&#x27;t survive without animals that spread their seeds and provide the CO2. Life is interlinked in this way in a huge number of things we can&#x27;t separate ourselves from nature both the impact we have had in changing the biodiversity and in the necessity of that biodiversity providing this diverse range of plants and animals. Its why its so heartbreaking we are wiping out species at a rate never seen before and causing a mass extinction event which might include us if we keep up at this increasing rate of damage.

For a wonderful scifi novel on this very theme, check out Sue Burke’s excellent Semiosis:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bookshop.org&#x2F;p&#x2F;books&#x2F;semiosis-sue-burke&#x2F;7103931" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bookshop.org&#x2F;p&#x2F;books&#x2F;semiosis-sue-burke&#x2F;7103931</a>

Have mostly heard this kind of talk before about the cannabis plant - by all indication it has existed alongside mankind for much of mankind’s history, seems uniquely suited to many of man’s needs, even practical ones like rope - grows easily alongside anywhere humans will typically habitate. It’s toxic to lots of other animals humans domesticate with, which is why it seems uniquely “targeting” humans as an evolutionary adaptation.

This idea is a tale for people who are stuck in stubborness.<p>It is to make one think that systems (of any kind) can be seen from more than one perspective. It&#x27;s an attempt to foster empathy through an absurd (yet possible) idea.<p>There are many of those kinds of tales. Sometimes it does not work, the listener can&#x27;t bring itself to be empathic to other point of view. Always worth a try though.

Well that was a fun thought on a Sunday night. I work in AgTech. The thought that all of the engineering work I’ve put into the last 6 years is really a bunch of trickery that plants have inflicted on me and my coworkers really makes me smile. And that smile, like the author says, is just enough of a dopamine hit to get back up in the morning and keep at it!

A core idea of Richard Dawkins&#x27;s second book “The extended phenotype” is that genes can also select for anything affecting the environment of the organism - i.e. genes for characteristics&#x2F;behaviours that are external to the organism itself.<p>So there could be a gene selecting for getting watered by humans (e.g. via wilting or colour).<p>This can also create a connection between genes and memes e.g. a new flower characteristic could be genetic but affect popular memetic choice.<p>The concept is hard to grok &amp; explain, so beware that there&#x27;s a good chance I&#x27;ve misunderstood and mistranslated the idea.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Extended_Phenotype#Summary" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Extended_Phenotype#Summary</a>

This reminds me of the concept of Vavilovian mimicry, where weed seeds gain resemblance to the crops they grow among over time. Eventually the seeds become so similar to a cereal grain that they begin to be grown for their own sake. Oats and Rye were both originally weeds trying to successfully hide in Wheat fields and survive weeding and winnowing.

“But fruits aren’t just for us. They’re a clever evolutionary strategy. By making themselves tasty and appealing, plants ensure that animals (including humans) will eat them and disperse their seeds.”<p>I thought fruits are nutritious because they are there to support the seed during its journey.

I don&#x27;t think it makes sense to redefine symbiotic relationships where one side benefits &quot;more&quot;. If both sides benefit, but you throw a tantrum because the other side benefits more, we generally consider that to be childish. What are you going you do, demand that wheat pay its fair share?<p>Alternatively, there are always many different perspectives and humans naturally default to the human-centric perspective, all else being equal (for obvious reasons).

I&#x27;ve heard this said .. admittedly, deep within the bowels of many a coffeeshop .. of marijuana.<p>Basically, weed rewards us for its continued safe domestication.<p>Try as I might, I cannot find a way to disprove this theory. The more I test it, the more it seems absolutely correct.<p>The same of course, is true of coffee and tobacco, albeit the means of domestication differ in magnitude and effect in each case.<p>The jury is still out on Triffids, however.

&quot;It has, I believe, been often remarked that a hen is only an egg&#x27;s way of making another egg.&quot; (Samuel Butler)

I wrote a short story ten years ago making fun of this concept: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.chewxy.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;05&#x2F;20&#x2F;the-long-term-plan&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.chewxy.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;05&#x2F;20&#x2F;the-long-term-plan&#x2F;</a>

One point missed by the article is the fact that the colour of fruit evolved at the same time as human color vision. This is usually presented as co-evolution, but in the eyes of the article it presents plants co-opting humans to their service.

I feel the same way tending to these goddamn machines. Who&#x27;s helping whom?

I&#x27;ve come to see plants as actually living underground with what we call the roots. What is above ground, are just air- and sun-roots.

I saw the Grok image and just closed it. So cringe

&quot;The selfish gene&quot;.

See also: housecats