Sept 24, 2026: Can Your Plants Pass an IQ Test? ..... [LIVE - IN PERSON]

Topic: Can Your Plants Pass an IQ Test?
Meetup is in our Living Room in West Orange, NJ
(street address sent to NEWBIES 3-7 days ahead of the event)
We gather at 7:30 for 30 min of refreshments (and wine), and chit chat, and then spend 90 min in an informal, facilitated discussion based on the assigned podcasts
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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
1. Could plants have intelligence?
2. Could plants communicate with each other?
3. How do you feel knowing that plants sense sound? Make choices? Solve problems? React to Human Intentions?
4. Based on these podcasts, will you view your plants differently now?
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# Please listen to the 5 short to medium-length podcasts below before the meetup

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[1] Radiolab
Smarty Plants (35 min)
In an episode we first aired in 2018, we asked the question, do you really need a brain to sense the world around you? To remember? Or even learn? Well, it depends on who you ask. Jad and Robert, they are split on this one. Today, Robert drags Jad along on a parade for the surprising feats of brainless plants. Along with a home-inspection duo, a science writer, and some enterprising scientists at Princeton University, we dig into the work of evolutionary ecologist Monica Gagliano, who turns our brain-centered worldview on its head through a series of clever experiments that show plants doing things we never would've imagined. Can Robert get Jad to join the march?
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/radiolab/id152249110?i=1000683473780

[2] Regenerative agriculture podcast
Unveiling plant consciousness and intelligence (26 min)
In this Podcast Short, John delves into the topic of plant consciousness and intelligence. John talks about how plants are not just passive organisms, but possess significant cognitive abilities and responsiveness. Drawing inspiration from Stephen Herrod Buhner's works, particularly "The Lost Language of Plants," John discusses how plants demonstrate informed decision-making capabilities and can react to human intentions.
John also cites additional scientific findings that assert plants have sophisticated neural networks contained within their root systems, similar to human neural systems, which are capable of learning and memory.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-short-3-unveiling-plant-consciousness-and/id1372359995?i=1000660216586

[3] Outside/In
The not so secret life of plants (39 min)
From the perspective of Western science, plants have long been considered unaware, passive life forms; essentially, rocks that happen to grow.
But there’s something in the air in the world of plant science. New research suggests that plants are aware of the world around them to a far greater extent than previously understood. Plants may be able to sense acoustics, communicate with each other, and make choices… all this without a brain.
These findings are fueling a debate, perhaps even a scientific revolution, which challenges our fundamental definitions of life, intelligence, and consciousness.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-not-so-secret-life-of-plants/id1061222770?i=1000666216782

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OPTIONAL
Yale Podcast Network
EP. 37 – MONICA GAGLIANO ON PLANT INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN IMAGINATION. (54 min)
Are plants intelligent? Can they think? Can they hear, see, feel, smell and taste? Throughout history, most Western philosophers and scientists answered those questions with a resounding “no.” Plants have long been treated as passive, inanimate objects that form the backdrop to our active lives, rather than highly sensitive organisms with intelligence and agency of their own. But on the cutting edge of modern science, this orthodoxy is being questioned by a group of daring and imaginative scientists — including our guest, Monica Gagliano — who think that plants are radically more sophisticated and sensitive than we’ve been giving them credit for. Gagliano pioneered the field of “plant bioacoustics,” the study of sounds produced by and affecting plants. The results of her groundbreaking experiments suggest that plants may perceive, solve problems, remember, and learn via mechanisms that differ from our own. In this episode, we speak with Gagliano about the profound implications of her discoveries and how listening to plants changed her understanding of the world.
https://yalepodcasts.blubrry.net/2020/11/04/ep-37-monica-gagliano-on-plant-intelligence-and-human-imagination/
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For newbies (and we love new people/ new voices):
the street address will be sent to you ~3-7 days before the event (lots of street parking)
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Only sign up if you plan to show up (or risk being tarred and feathered).

• If you can't make it-- please change your RSVP from YES to NO as early as possible so that others can get in
• $2 on-site for refreshments/cover the annual fees for the meetup site.