Plant Intelligence - ICE Public Dialogue with Richard Powers, Monica Gagliano and Marcelo Gleiser

We think of intelligence as being a brain-supported evolutionary asset. Large or small, brains have neurons connected by synapses. It is this interconnectivity—or so it is believed—that engenders intelligence. But is this too narrow a definition of intelligence? Could plants and ecosystems display some form of alternative intelligent behavior? If so, can (and should) it be studied using traditional scientific methods?


Join 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction Richard Powers (The Overstory) and evolutionary ecologist Monica Gagliano (University of Sydney and ICE@Dartmouth Fellow, and author of Thus Spoke the Plant) for a truly mind-expanding conversation that is sure to reset the way you think about the nature of intelligence, plant behavior, and our place within Nature. Moderated by ICE@Dartmouth Director Marcelo Gleiser


Presented by The Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth (ICE)

Recorded Thursday, February 27, 2020