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For me the most important lessons
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The Botany of Desire

But to the extent that you can put yourself in the place of these other species and look...

[last lines] Michael Pollan:
For me the most important lessons to take away from these tales is that we are not simply standing outside the web of life, but that we are part of that web of life, and that everything we do, what we choose to eat, what flowers we choose to - to put on our tables, what drugs we choose to take, these are evolutionary votes we are casting every day in - in many, many different ways. [pause] Michael Pollan:
When we use these metaphors when we talk about plants having a strategy to do this, or wanting this, or desiring this, we're being metaphorical obviously, I mean, plants do not have consciousness. But this is a fault of our own vocabulary. We don't have a very good vocabulary to describe what other species do to us, because we think we're the only species that really does anything. [pause] Michael Pollan:
But to the extent that you can put yourself in the place of these other species and look at the world from their point of view, I think it frees us from our sense of alienation from nature? And we become members of the biotic community, one among many species, all of them together creating this wondrous web that we call life

Full Transcript

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.135
For me the most important lessons
00:00:04.203 --> 00:00:07.939
To take away from these tales is that we are not simply
00:00:08.997 --> 00:00:10.942
Standing outside the web of life
00:00:11.998 --> 00:00:13.311
But that we are part of that web of life
00:00:13.379 --> 00:00:14.946
And that everything we do
00:00:15.999 --> 00:00:17.001
What we choose to eat
00:00:17.998 --> 00:00:20.001
What flowers we choose to put on our tables
00:00:20.152 --> 00:00:22.022
What drugs we choose to take
00:00:22.288 --> 00:00:24.055
These are evolutionary votes
00:00:24.123 --> 00:00:27.492
We are casting every day in many many different ways
00:00:32.932 --> 00:00:35.233
When we use these metaphors and we talk
00:00:35.301 --> 00:00:37.736
About plants having a strategy to do this
00:00:37.803 --> 00:00:40.605
Or wanting this or desiring this
00:00:40.673 --> 00:00:42.674
We're being metaphorical obviously
00:00:42.742 --> 00:00:44.976
I mean plants do not have consciousness
00:00:45.997 --> 00:00:48.048
But this is a fault of our own vocabulary
00:00:48.548 --> 00:00:51.065
We don't have a very good vocabulary to describe
00:00:51.717 --> 00:00:54.419
What other species do to us because we think we're
00:00:54.487 --> 00:00:56.888
The only species that really does anything
Duration
61 seconds
Views
292
Timestamp in Movie
01:53:04
Uploaded
Nov 22, 2022
Genres
Production
N/A

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Movie Summary

Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism and a student of food, presents the history of four plants, each of which found a way to make itself essential to humans, thus ensuring widespread propagation. Apples, for sweetness; tulip...