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Are Plants Farming Us?

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Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#41

Post by ccozan »

mullingitover wrote: post #24
pwmtr wrote: post #14

I read something similar on Yuval Harari's Homo Sapiens, where he suggests wheat domesticated humans not the other way around. An excerpt can be found here [1]. Whole essay is great but I especially liked this part: > The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens. [1] https://www.ynharari.com/topic/ecology/

My theory is that multicellular life itself was developed because viruses wanted a more effective way to travel. Humans are the pinnacle of virus transportation technology, and they've developed very successful behavioral override countermeasures against our pesky use of vaccines.

Not only that, but they ( or some parts of it) have been incorporated in the other species, human included, DNA as well!

The code just wants to survive.

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#42

Post by Ferret7446 »

I don't think it makes sense to redefine symbiotic relationships where one side benefits "more". If both sides benefit, but you throw a tantrum because the other side benefits more, we generally consider that to be childish. What are you going you do, demand that wheat pay its fair share?

Alternatively, there are always many different perspectives and humans naturally default to the human-centric perspective, all else being equal (for obvious reasons).

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#43

Post by baxtr »

tabokie wrote: post #20
pwmtr wrote: post #14

I read something similar on Yuval Harari's Homo Sapiens, where he suggests wheat domesticated humans not the other way around. An excerpt can be found here [1]. Whole essay is great but I especially liked this part: > The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens. [1] https://www.ynharari.com/topic/ecology/

He also talked about this "reverse chain of command" in the recent talk at Peking university: Human evolves from worm. Human brain is originally a bunch of neurons centered around the worm's mouth to search for food. It is natural to think human is still controlled by stomach to this day (or spinal cord for that matter).

Do you have a link?

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#45

Post by Daub »

One point missed by the article is the fact that the colour of fruit evolved at the same time as human color vision. This is usually presented as co-evolution, but in the eyes of the article it presents plants co-opting humans to their service.

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#46

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

ccozan wrote: post #41
mullingitover wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory is that multicellular life itself was developed because viruses wanted a more effective way to travel. Humans are the pinnacle of virus transportation technology, and they've developed very successful behavioral override countermeasures against our pesky use of vaccines.

Not only that, but they ( or some parts of it) have been incorporated in the other species, human included, DNA as well! The code just wants to survive.

"all things strive"

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#47

Post by coldtea »

pwmtr wrote: post #14

I read something similar on Yuval Harari's Homo Sapiens, where he suggests wheat domesticated humans not the other way around. An excerpt can be found here [1]. Whole essay is great but I especially liked this part: > The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens. [1] https://www.ynharari.com/topic/ecology/

>The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens.

Etymology never made for very compelling arguments.

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#48

Post by coldtea »

kqr wrote: post #38
pwmtr wrote: post #14

I read something similar on Yuval Harari's Homo Sapiens, where he suggests wheat domesticated humans not the other way around. An excerpt can be found here [1]. Whole essay is great but I especially liked this part: > The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens. [1] https://www.ynharari.com/topic/ecology/

I don't remember the details of their arguments, but Graeber and Wengrow think this is a misleading image. IIRC one of their main thrusts was that over long periods of history, groups of humans have adopted and abandoned stationary agriculture at will, as conditions indicate. I suppose that makes us as domesticated as e.g. lions or chimpanzees, which have been known to e.g. share food with humans ("work for them") in…

>IIRC one of their main thrusts was that over long periods of history, groups of humans have adopted and abandoned stationary agriculture at will, as conditions indicate.

In general they still totally depend on it.

So this would be like saying dogs aren't domesticated, because some left their owners or bit them, or there are groups of stray dogs here and there.

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#49

Post by hollerith »

coldtea wrote: post #47
pwmtr wrote: post #14

I read something similar on Yuval Harari's Homo Sapiens, where he suggests wheat domesticated humans not the other way around. An excerpt can be found here [1]. Whole essay is great but I especially liked this part: > The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens. [1] https://www.ynharari.com/topic/ecology/

> The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens. Etymology never made for very compelling arguments.

"Free" derives from an Indo-European word that means "one of the loved ones".

Re: Are Plants Farming Us?

#50

Post by actionfromafar »

hollerith wrote: post #49
coldtea wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The word “domesticate” comes from the Latin domus, which means “house.” Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens. Etymology never made for very compelling arguments.

"Free" derives from an Indo-European word that means "one of the loved ones".

Something about this free-wheeling non sequitur, if you even can call it that, is incredibly hilarious to me!
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