[natecavanaugh]

I agree with both of you, but I'm not sure if the plants don't want the insect, since this could be a symbiotic relationship and there's some benefit to the plant.

But the conclusion that the plant is "telling" the insect something, rather than the insect adapting to changing conditions seems like a huge stretch. It's not like everytime an oil well dries up Mother Earth is telling us to start looking for other oil wells.

[resu_nimda]

I think it actually is pretty common for people to refer to certain natural events as "mother nature" "telling" us something. I think it really just depends on how strict your definition of "tell" is and your take on anthropomorphization. "Tell" might be something only humans can do or it might be more generally any signal from some entity that induces behavior in a living organism.

[natecavanaugh]

> I think it actually is pretty common for people to refer to certain natural events as "mother nature" "telling" us something.

True though it should be a shorthand, convenient way of saying it, but I've seen it derail many a discussion when people get hung up on the abstract aspect.

> "Tell" might be something only humans can do or it might be more generally any signal from some entity that induces behavior in a living organism.

That's where it gets interesting because many times (though definitely not all), many of our communication is biologically or environmentally driven, so it's often tough even among humans what we're truly trying to communicate. It's a fascinating interplay between different parts of ourselves that we're trying to express :)

[xbmcuser]

Rose plants tell humans and animals to leave them the f* alone by pricking them when grabbed.