David Wolsk 961001 23:05PST responded
[Martin Taylor 960930 13:20]
Remi Cote 960927.0009
Remi, since you live in Montreal, you should be able to get a copy of
last Saturday's Globe and Mail (Sept 28). In it you will find an article
in which the "thoughts" of trees are discussed. It talks of trees as
clever warriors, thinking on time scales of decades rather than minutes.
They fight wars against changes in their environment, against bugs, and
against all sorts of what we would call "disturbances." What they do is
oppose the disturbance. And that seems like "control."
Many years ago, after telling a botanist that I was doing neurophysiology
research, he replied that he could be considered a plant neurophysiologist.
He claimed, and then supported his claim, that everything my monkey's
nervous system could do, his plants could also do ... much, much slower. It
is intriguing. As one living on 10 acres of greenery, including one of the
world's major Scotch Broom crops (a fast growing pesky bushy treelike WEED),
I certainly feel it';s a lot smarter than me.
David Wolsk
Victoria, BC Canada