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by annadiru 1295 days ago
It'd be neat to build a device that can interface with the electrochemical signal layer of mycellium networks in an attempt to understand the nature of their awareness, if it can be called such. I suppose the best way to further our understanding of them is through experi(m)ential methods. It's worked well for the natural sciences so far shrug
1 comments

I'm going to hang my comment off yours, since it's nearly a perfect "hook".

You don't need to build that device.

You are that device.

(Check out Michael Levin's lab's work, et. al. The machinery of thought is common to all cells, not just neurons. Mycelium is a brain.

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The problem with this approach (making machines out of living tissues) is the fundamental difference between what Martin Buber called "I-Thou" vs. "I-It" relationship.

Mushrooms are people. Treating them as objects is rude at best.

I agree. Establishing communication and seeking understanding them are nice approaches.

I like what his guy has started doing recently in his parent's basement https://fungimancy.neocities.org/ but am a bit put off by his 'life-form as tool' approach.