植物是活躍地聰明的：對素食者這是什麼意思？

植物是活躍地聰明的：對素食者這是什麼意思？
Plants are actively intelligent: What does this mean for vegetarians?
Saturday, February 20, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

（NaturalNews）大多數素食主義者認為不食動物，他們就是維護生命。但每人都知道植物是活的，只是它們不被視為有動物的同級智能。隨著科學繼續揭示植物的複雜性質，它正在變得更加明顯，植物是活躍地聰明的生命，在追求它們繼續的存在，類似動物一樣的方式。

關於這個問題的研究，自然地逃離嚴格素食主義的臉面，他們往往堅持吃動物是謀殺，但吃植物是好的。然而事實說明，動物的特點用來爭辨吃牠們就是謀殺，亦適用於植物。換句話說，為了讓嚴格素食者持續他們的信仰，他們也必須停止吃水果和蔬菜。

植物對環境變化是非常敏感的，和它們有很多內置的機制來抵禦攻擊；它們努力尋找最佳的資源，並被觀察到實在能預期生存的障礙，和提前工作去克服它們。

據在柏林自由大學生物研究所的莫妮卡Hilker，植物是有智能的生活，通過化學信號溝通，它們能夠聽，說，看和感覺等所有的感知，而這大多數人認為只有動物才有那能力。

加州大學的琳達和寧同意，並指出動物積極防範食肉動物為了生存；當一隻甲蟲咬它們的葉子或莖時，許多植物會釋放化學物質或其它制止物，類似免疫系統如何釋放抗體抵禦感染或疾病。植物亦能識別附近的植物競爭對手，因而改變其增長模式遠離其它植物。

賓夕法尼亞州立大學的研究人員分析植物對天敵的反應，發現在少於20分鐘，一棵植物被毛蟲所吃能夠從空氣轉化二氧化碳变成一種化合物，旨在阻嚇毛蟲繼續行動，看來要進行此任務完全是由零開始。

植物亦發出信號，相當於一般喊救命，往往吸引天敵牠們的天敵，牠們抓住捕襲擊者並吃了牠們。這僅是多種方法的一種，植物用以與圍繞它們生活的世界溝通，為了生存。

事實關於智能植物的生命，多過作為一個爭論的要點，純然是質疑所謂只吃植物而不是動物的道德，兩者都是智能生物旨在維持生存。人類是更聰明的動物，選擇吃植物、動物、或兩者去生存。

(NaturalNews) Most vegetarians believe that by not eating animals, they are preserving life. Everyone knows that plants are alive but they are not viewed with the same level of intelligence as animals are. As science continues to uncover the complex nature of plants, it is becoming more apparent that plants are actively intelligent life that pursue their continued existence in similar ways as do animals.

Research on the subject naturally flies in the face of strict vegetarianism which often insists that eating animals is murder but eating plants is just fine. Yet the facts illustrate that the characteristics of animals used to argue that eating them is murder also apply to plants. In other words, in order for strict vegetarians to be consistent in their beliefs, they would also have to stop eating fruits and vegetables.

Plants are very sensitive to environmental changes and they have many built-in mechanisms to ward off attackers. They strive to find the best resources and have been observed to actually anticipate hurdles to survival and work to overcome them in advance.

According to Monika Hilker from the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin, plants are intelligent life that communicate through chemical signals. They are capable of listening, talking, seeing, and feeling, all senses for which most people think only animals have the capability.

Linda Walling from the University of California agrees, noting that animals actively ward off predators in order to survive. Many plants release chemicals or other deterrents when a bug nips at their leaves or stems, similar to how the immune system releases antibodies to ward off infection or disease. Plants are also able to identify nearby plant competitors and alter their growth patterns away from other plants.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University analyzed plant responses to predators and found that in less than 20 minutes, a plant being eaten by a caterpillar was able to convert carbon from the air into a chemical compound designed to deter the caterpillar from continuing. It appeared to perform this task entirely from scratch.

Plants also send signals that are the equivalent of a cry for help, often attracting predators of their predators who snatch up the attackers and eat them. This is just one of many ways in which plants communicate with the living world around them in order to survive.

Rather than serve as a point of contention, the facts about intelligent plant life merely call into question the alleged ethics of eating only plants rather than animals. Both are intelligent creatures designed to maintain survival. Humans are even more intelligent creatures, choosing to survive by eating plants, animals, or both.

Sources for this story include: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/s...

http://www.naturalnews.com/028213_plant_intelligence_vegetarianism.html

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