Quote:
Originally Posted by BioSci
Responding to a stimulus is not the same as consciousness.
Consciousness means actually thinking. Plant responses to the environment are of a wholly different nature than conscious actions or thoughts. Plants are not "aware" - but they can be "programmed" by metabolic and genetic mechanisms to respond to day length, temperature, and seasons.
Plants respond to the sun primarily by differential growth (commonly demonstrated in beginning biology classes) - the "movement" to gravity or light is a result of greater (or less) cellular expansion on one side, thereby making the plant change its orientation.
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In fairness, I'll ask the same of you: What is your specific, objective definition of "consciousness"? Frankly, I think it is a largely useless term in a scientific discussion. What we can say is that species with complex nervous systems can act and function in ways that species without complex nervous systems cannot. All life
does not act as if it has a nervous system. All life
does not act as if it has a complex nervous system.