

Plants now have "dignity" in Switzerland. - newt0311
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122359549477921201.html?mod=djemITP

======
dfranke
IIRC this just won an Ignobel peace prize.

------
Allocator2008
My first thought beyond "wow, what total bull" is that there is a serious
philosophical battle that needs to be waged, or vacuities like "the dignity of
wheat" will persist. Basically we need to get down to things broadly termed
qualia - feelings, emotions, "subject experience" like color and so on. Daniel
Dennett is a good place to start."Qualia" is a product of the computation
power of the brain. So wheat does not have a nervous system, ergo has no
computational power, ergo has no "qualia", subjective experience, the feeling
of pain and so on. Once we establish all subject experience, all qualia, as a
phenomenon of computation then cockamamie like the "dignity of all living
things" will go away. Which, by the way, a "living thing" is roughly when you
get down to it a molecule that can copy itself, so crystals are "living" too.
Shall we now have a discussion on tax payer money about how much pain a
crystal feels when we cut it?

~~~
Prrometheus
I don't think you would change their mind even if you convinced them that
plants have no feelings. A certain segment of society is dissatisfied with
modern civilization; they are disappointed with how well a capitalist,
competitive, technology-heavy society has turned out. In their worldview, the
noble savage is the ideal - communal tribes living "in harmony" with nature.
The modern world is evil, dirty, selfish. So, they will support whatever
sentiments they can to oppose it.

