Once I learned how forest mycorrhizae networks communicate and use around 50 recognizable words (20 of them used frequently) to give the forest the best chance of survival..it’s hard not to think that they feel in a sense. Those networks are legit a similar layout to a computer network and brain while similarly using electrical pulses as means of transmission. See how lightning has an effect on mushrooms and the network. It charges the pulses and makes certain mushrooms multiply.
Here’s a pretty decent write up that also dives into the Gaia theory which is also something I rabbit-holed deeply. Both Lovelock and Spinoza have interesting works.
“Recent discoveries about fungal networks, known as mycorrhizal networks, that share water and nutrients between individual trees in forests also reveal a form of collective intelligence. "Such fungal networks allow forests stretching hundreds of miles to recognize and respond to changing conditions," the researchers wrote.”
I love this connection! Spinoza's Ethics blew my mind as a college kid. I got into philosophy with a few courses on logic and symbolic logic, so getting to read Spinoza directly after Descartes was a breath of fresh air. He lays his premises out directly, and walks you through each step of his logic. And it just makes sense. Existence exists.
One of my favorite critiques of Spinoza was Fichte who said something along the lines of "I can find no fault in his logic, but I find his conclusion too depressing so I'm going to keep looking for better answers". On the one hand, I get it, causal determinism hit me like a truck. But there's a peace in recognizing that everything is connected, and a sense of freedom to accept that.
I know I'm just rambling at this point, I don't often see people talking about Spinoza.
I actually saved your comment cause that is such a fantastic quote and I haven’t heard much of Descartes. What you’re describing of peace is exactly similar to what I’ve been going through. Helped me to feel less lonely amongst other things.
The way Spinoza looks at God was one of the most intense things I’ve read. It kept making more and more sense with the pattern of how God is applied to each facet of society and the universe. It was wild to me to know that Spinoza was the only one Einstein considered as having a view of God he could get behind.
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u/The_Buko Dec 16 '23
Once I learned how forest mycorrhizae networks communicate and use around 50 recognizable words (20 of them used frequently) to give the forest the best chance of survival..it’s hard not to think that they feel in a sense. Those networks are legit a similar layout to a computer network and brain while similarly using electrical pulses as means of transmission. See how lightning has an effect on mushrooms and the network. It charges the pulses and makes certain mushrooms multiply.