[davidscolgan]

My partner showed me the book The Hidden Life of Trees:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1771642483/

It suggests that trees may have some kind of hive intelligence in their roots and through the fungal networks they can communicate and share resources. It isn't something that I've investigated in a ton of detail but the ideas seem scientifically informed.

[bigiain]

Try this book::

https://www.amazon.com/Thus-Spoke-Plant-Groundbreaking-Disco...

It describes some experiments which can be interpreted as plants "remembering" and "predicting" things.

Here's a recording of a (~1 hour) presentation I saw her give: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZFKon7kook

I don't know what to make of this, but it's certainly made me think differently...

[filoeleven]

I haven’t read the book either; it’s on my list. I do hope it gives fungal networks their due—other research points to the fungi being the ones who decide how to share the resources, in essence farming the trees. It’s a mutualistic relationship that upwards of 90% of plant species participate in. The book Entangled Life, which I haven’t read yet either, looks at things more from this perspective.

The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. Rather than viewing trees as a hive intelligence, I think it’s plausible that we’ve been missing the forest as a whole organism. Perhaps “ecosystem” just means “an organism that is bigger than any one of us.”