Originally published as two parts in a series, this article has been compiled here into one, with some minor edits and updates from the original.
Part 1.
There exists a body of research poised to rend apart our modern paradigms—revealing consciousness in places we might not have expected it, and connections between lifeforms that might seem startling and impossible.
Imagine coming into a laboratory with a friend, and the experimenter tells you to simply start up a conversation. After some time, the experimenter stops you and shows you a recording that was taken of the conversation. The audio is of the conversation, but the video is of a line that looks something like a seismograph—which is actually a measure of electrical activity that was taking place in a plant that had been sitting in the corner of the room the whole time….