In March 2023, Nautilus magazine published Amanda Gefter’s article “What Plants Are Saying About Us,” a piece recently included in the prestigious HarperCollins anthology The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024.
Gefter’s article is a profound dive into the emerging field of plant cognition, reimagining how we understand intelligence and perception. In preparing to write this article, Gefter’s extensive research reshaped her own understanding of cognition, humanity, and our relationship with the natural world. “Writing the article was a transformative experience for me,” she said.
‘Maybe this is the kind of shift in thinking we need to move toward less destructive ways of living on this planet.’
“Learning about plant intelligence not only made me see plants in a new light, it made me see humans differently, too. The idea behind the story was, look, plants can perform all of these amazing cognitive feats—differentiating stranger from kin, avoiding obstacles, predicting sensory input, learning by association, and so on—and they don’t have brains. So maybe cognition isn’t as brain-based as we’ve come to believe.”
Gefter challenged the traditional notion that human perception relies solely on complex brain functions—which interpret the world through internal representations and neural models of reality—and used her research with plant cognition to forge a new perspective on alternative theories of human intelligence. “There are alternative theories which emphasize that much of cognition can be explained without internal representations—that, in short, the mind isn’t in the head,” she explained. “It’s in our embodied, adaptive interactions with the world.”
Gefter believes that examining human intelligence through the lens of plant cognition opens up transformative possibilities for understanding human perception and consciousness. “Learning to see our own intelligence as more plant-like can radically change how we understand our place in the world,” Gefter said. “Instead of feeling ourselves sitting apart—our minds tucked away in the safety of our skulls, only knowing the world at a remove—it forces us to situate ourselves in the world, in the thick of things.”
A core principle of Nautilus and its parent company, Fragment Media Group, is highlighting complex and underrepresented perspectives in accessible ways. Showcasing Gefter’s innovative theories on intelligence and cognition is one of many examples in which Nautilus seeks to challenge traditional concepts and champion expansive thinking.
Gefter feels optimistic about her disruptive ideas reaching The Best American Science and Nature Writing, a series that has been running since 2000. “Maybe this is the kind of shift in thinking we need to move toward less destructive ways of living on this planet,” Gefter suggested.
“After all, plants have figured it out. Maybe if we see them for what they are, we can, too.”
