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I'd like to make a sentient plant species that can perform tasks such as communication and problem solving.

My Definition of Sentience

When asking this question, I mean sentient as in able to rationalize and solve problems without solely relying on instinct. I believe there are two levels of sentience. The first is animal level sentience, which is basically where they are able to communicate and socialize on a low level and have simple emotions. The second is human level sentience. Our emotions, thoughts, and social lives are extremely complex compared to animal's. I am looking for the human level sentience in these plants.

What I Already Know

I know that technically speaking a plant is a life form that uses photosynthesis to produce food for itself in order to survive (though other life forms can do photosynthesis too). That's about it. I am not a botanist.

What I'd Like to Know

I'd like to know how this hypothetical species could fit my definition of sentience (I'd also like for them to be mobile, but it's not a must) while still technically being considered a plant. (please note: I am not wondering whether or how a plant could develop sentience, this question is more about whether a sentient plant is still a plant while being intelligent as a human)

BlippThePanda
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    These questions might help: http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/10735/how-could-a-sentient-plant-evolve-and-what-conditions-would-be-required-for-this and: http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/5097/could-plants-develop-intelligence – Mikey Mar 14 '17 at 05:21
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    And these: http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/34034/could-plants-develop-sentience and: http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/5097/could-plants-develop-intelligence – Mikey Mar 14 '17 at 05:23
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    @Mikey, not sure if you realise but you pasted the same question link twice. 5097 - could plants have intelligence. – EveryBitHelps Mar 14 '17 at 06:19
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    @EveryBitHelps - sorry about that; three relevant questions, not four (and ironically in a discussion about intelligence - d'oh!) – Mikey Mar 14 '17 at 06:23
  • There are reports of plants able to react to external stimuli (like raising an alarm to its neighbors when an herbivore start munching its leaves). Would this fit into your low level sentience definition? – L.Dutch Mar 14 '17 at 08:05
  • Possible duplicate of Why might a plant evolve a brain and the ability to move? – James Mar 14 '17 at 17:55
  • Welcome to the site Blipp. As you can see we have many questions on plants and sentience. I flagged this question as a duplicate because it appears the question has been answered already. – James Mar 14 '17 at 17:56
  • I would recommend this answer for an illustration of the problems with your plan (not that you can't do it in fiction it just won't be scientifically plausible. http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/42345/189 – James Mar 14 '17 at 17:57
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    Possible duplicate of Could Plants Develop Sentience? – Josh King Mar 14 '17 at 18:43
  • You might want to look at Stapledon's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Maker. Somewhere near the middle it describes a group of planets where plant-like organisms develop mobility (they can still got back to their immobile roots and attach their stems there) and intelligence. The key according to Stapledon was a much higher solar radiation level compared to Earth and therefore more energy obtainable via photosynthesis. – kfx Mar 19 '17 at 11:20

1 Answers1

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It would be something like this:

Audrey 2

There are two issues you need to overcome with a plant like this. The first is the sentience quotient (SQ). SQ is a measure of how fast bits can be processed vs. the mass of their calculating organs, measured in bits/s/kg, and usually shown on a logarithmic scale. All neuron based life forms sit within a cluster around +13, including humans. Plants score a -2 while carnivorous plants like Audrey 2 rank at a +1. The first challenge would be overcoming the massive 10-orders-of-magnitude difference in processing rate.

The easy solution would be to let plants use neurons, but there's a price to pay. Neurons are not cheap to maintain. The human body dedicates 20% of its total power to the brain. This is where the limits of photosynthesis come in. It's not possible to generate enough power for such a brain using photosynthesis (I believe there was a past question on WorldBuilding regarding whether a human could live of photosynthesis alone, and the answer was "not even close").

Probably your best bet would be to abandon photosynthesis as a primary food mechanism, and instead have an immobile creature that feeds off prey animals. Perhaps it hypnotizes them into drawing too close. That would require a real brain to accomplish.

Cort Ammon
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