The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

by Zoë Schlanger

To many people I spoke to, “intelligence” felt dangerous, yes, but only because most people make a mental leap directly to human intelligence. Measuring plants against human cognition made no sense; it just rendered plants as lesser humans, lesser animals. Anthropomorphizing was dangerous because it diminished these green bodies, leaving no room for the recognition that plants deploy several senses—or could one say, intelligences?—that far exceed anything humans can do in a similar category. Our versions of those senses, if we even have them, are paltry in comparison. It was hard for these researchers to talk about plant intelligence; they worried that it was a trap, leading to conclusions that did not represent the real wonder of what they’d learned.