WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)
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Crazier hypotheses: Panpsychism
Get PDFAbstract: Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (S&C) invite readers to consider seriously the hypothesis that plants have phenomenal consciousness or sentience. Their case is based on behavioral evidence to support their hypothesis. While the hypothesis seems crazy to many, there is a crazier hypothesis – panpsychism – according to which everything is sentient. We discuss panpsychism to raise a number of philosophical questions about S&C’s hypothesis
The Anniversary of the UNEA Nexus Resolution
Get PDFOn March 2, 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (the world’s environment parliament) passed a landmark resolution calling on the United Nations Environment Program to produce a report on the Nexus between animal welfare, the environment, and sustainable development. This Resolution offers enormous potential for a significant reset in how humanity approaches, values, and interacts with our world moving towards a more holistic global approach (including humans, animals, and the environment)
Bird Flu: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza – An Update
Get PDFIn the last few years, a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI) virus has caused the deaths of millions of seabirds and waterfowl worldwide, and many more millions of factory-farmed poultry being culled to halt the spread of the virus. WBI wrote about the emergence of this virus and its potential danger to humans in our last WellBeing News. The virus continues to spread and mutate and has caused the deaths of some mammals and a few humans
What can plant science learn from animal nervous systems?
Get PDFI welcome Segundo-Ortin & Calvo’s (2023) call for a rigorous science of plant behavior and physiology. My commentary addresses three points drawn from the literature on animal brains that could help elucidate the possibility of cognition and sentience in plants: (1) the presumed requirement of a centralized brain; (2) centralization of control versus heterarchical organization; and (3) connecting plant research with research on animal nervous systems
Plants detect and adapt, but do not feel
Get PDFPlant sentience is a hot topic in scientific and popular media. There are moral reasons to respect both the service of plants to humanity and their natural integrity as creatures playing their own significant role in a complex ecosystem. However, to infer that plants have certain cognitive capacities that are present also in certain human and nonhuman animals calls for scientific rigor beyond mere analogy. The unique capacities of plants identified by Segundo-Ortin & Calvo are not necessarily linked to sentience. Nor is it likely that sentience is an evolutionary trait that is present to some extent in all living organisms
Plant sentience: feeling or biological automatism?
Get PDFSentience refers to the ability of an organism to have subjective experiences such as sensations, emotions and awareness. Whereas some animals, including humans, are widely recognized as sentient, the question of whether plants are sentient is still debated among scientists, philosophers, and ethicists. Over the past 20 years, many scientists such as Trewavas, Baluška, Mancuso, Gagliano, and Calvo have reported interesting discussions about memory, behavior, communication, and intelligence in plants. However, the reported conclusions have not convinced the entire scientific community. In this commentary, I would like to focus on two critical aspects related to sentience: cognition and emotio
A Swift Kick in the Pandemics: Identifying Spillover Dynamics
Get PDFThe spillover of viruses from wild animals to cause human disease is a complex ecological process. A recent paper connects the dots
Laboratory Primate Supply: Plus ça change, plus c\u27est la même chose
Get PDFThe use of laboratory primates in laboratories continues to prompt questioning and debate amid disruptions in supply
From Horse-Drawn to Electric Carriages: Promoting a Paradigm Change
No full textHorses largely disappeared from urban streets in America after the 1920s. The development of a new e-carriage allows the few remaining horses to take a deserved retirement from dangerous, polluted urban streets
The Use and Misuse of Emotional Support Animals
Get PDFIn the United States, trained service dogs are permitted in public places that do not allow pets. In contrast, emotional support animals are not trained and only have access to no-pet housing such as apartments, condos, and dorms. One in four emotional support animal owners obtained their ESA letters through internet sites rather than from personal health professionals