The Memories of Plants • Hacker News Board

Re: The Memories of Plants

#31

Post by interfixus » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 6:02 AM UTC

tedunangst wrote: post #27

interfixus wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the Vegan shows up! I kid, but the stereotype really holds true all too often And the meat-man with a vengeance shows up. I kid you not, this stereotype holds true all too often. And, may I add, puzzles me absolutely no end. What is it about some people's restrictive dietary choices that regularly sets off these spasms of all too vocal disapproval in the minds of certain people? I do not, as a general rule, eat…

To the extent someone's choices don't affect me, I'm also unaware of them. Your business is your business, yada yada. But if I know you're a vegan, it's because at some point you made it my business, so I think I'm justified in commenting on it. For the most part I agree with you. There's a lot of sneering at vegans, and most vegans are harmless and anonymous. As with everything, it's the preachy ones who spoil every…

Actually, neither the grandparent or I (of the snarky subreply) made any explicit declaration of veganism. I most emphatically am not a vegan. I just pragmatically don't eat meat. I keep my opinions of meat-eating largely to myself, and should prefer to receive a roughly equivalent treatment.

Re: The Memories of Plants

#32

Post by lorenzorhoades » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 7:12 AM UTC

damnfine wrote: post #20

gertef wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does harvesting animals cause less suffering, in the real world we live in? The usual answer is "well IF you are friends with your cow/chicken and give it lots of pasture and then you squeeze it for milk occasionally and one day quickly and painlessly end its life, then its humane" but then motte-and-bailey--style that gets used to excuse a diet full of factory-farmed meat and chicken trucks and forcibly-impregna…

All my meat is raised on open pasture locally, fed only on wild grasses. I specifically said factory farms are a clear problem. Thanks for talking past me and ignoring my point. This is what makes conversing wih you people get on my nerves. Show some intellectual respect and get some in retuen.

I agree with you on all your points. However, you last two sentences are not necessary. To be honest, the first time i read your comment i though the same thing. Only on a re-read did i see your last little bit of the message addresses that argument.

Re: The Memories of Plants

#33

Post by pvaldes » Fri, Sep 08, 2017, 2:01 PM UTC

seszett wrote: post #18

cwkoss wrote: post #5

I wonder to what extent cuttings are effected by these epigenetic memories? Ex. - Grow plant A. Expose it to stimuli to make it form a 'memory' - Take a cutting from plant A and root it, making plant B. - Test plant B for response to the stimulus. Does plant B have the memory? If so, how many cutting-generations does it take for the memory to decay?

There's probably no reason cuttings should be different than a whole plant as they don't have any fundamental difference. Unless the roots themselves have an importance in the process (since the cuttings will then grow new "inexperienced" roots) but I doubt it. I'm more intrigued by what would happen with grafts. Does rootstock transmit memories ("memories") to a scion, does a scion transmit memories to rootstock, do…

> There's probably no reason cuttings should be different than a whole plant

Its uncommon, but it happens sometimes... and there can be in fact a fundamental difference: different hormone gradient. A well known case is with ivy. If you take cuttings on flowered stems of common ivy, the new plants retain the rombic leaf shape typical of reproductive stems and the effect last for the life of this first leaves. The ivy born from seeds do not have this rombic leaves until many years later, when they mature.

> Does rootstock transmit "memories" to a scion

Not, because memories are stored in neurons and plants do not have this, but is a well known fact also that rootstock can change the scion behaviour (for example improving the sugar in fruits and advancing the age of first maturation). If you change 'memories' by 'chemicals', the answer could be yes, of course. It depends on the definition of what could be loosely called as 'memory' in a plant.

Re: The Memories of Plants

#34

Post by gr__or » Mon, Sep 11, 2017, 7:44 AM UTC

mehwoot wrote: post #29

interfixus wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the Vegan shows up! I kid, but the stereotype really holds true all too often And the meat-man with a vengeance shows up. I kid you not, this stereotype holds true all too often. And, may I add, puzzles me absolutely no end. What is it about some people's restrictive dietary choices that regularly sets off these spasms of all too vocal disapproval in the minds of certain people? I do not, as a general rule, eat…

And the meat-man with a vengeance shows up. Yeah but he only showed up because the vegan made the discussion about veganism. People who eat meat aren't going around making every discussion about eating meat, they just appear when vegans do that.

She just stepped in early. I've had so many of these articles thrown in my face without me making the topic about veganism. There is a an active defensiveness spewing out of some carnivores when vegs are around.