4 ms·

Right, but the point of the pain is to remind conscious me to pull my foot away. But fungi (afaik) aren’t conscious, nor can move, so what’s the evolutionary ad

Right, but the point of the pain is to remind conscious me to pull my foot away. But fungi (afaik) aren’t conscious, nor can move, so what’s the evolutionary advantage to this signaling?

omegaworks 6y ago
It may signal where to invest more effort into decomposing the material (if the pressure degrades the material) or where it wouldn't be a good idea to put effort into sprouting to reproduce (wouldn't make sense to put your reproductive organs in harm's way).
- haimez 6y ago
  Alternatively, where it _would_ be a good idea to produce spores if you want to hitch a ride on some passing foot traffic.
potatoman22 6y ago
We don't know. Interestingly enough, mushrooms also double their yield after a single high-voltage shock. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029503/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029503/
robotbikes 6y ago
I am kind of partial to the pan-psychic notion of all plants and animals who are living having something that could resemble consciousness or at least an experience of existing. It may not resemble the part of our consciousness that forms words and likes to project an ego into the world but perhaps the experiences we have while dreaming or non-verbally perceiving. I suspect that the experience of being a mycelium would be very alien to anything we can easily imagine. But this whole concept is best explored in science-fiction for now.
- fogihujy 6y ago
  The idea that fungi would have rudimentary communication pathways isn't really that insane. That doesn't necessarily make it true, but it always strikes me as odd when people talk about plants, fungi and other non-animal life as if it wasn't life at all. The Xenofungus from the video game Alpha Centauri comes to mind.
arrosenberg 6y ago
Depends on your definition of conscious, I suppose. Fungi can definitely move, just not via locomotion - fungi expand through mycelial networks and reproduction. Who knows what the specific function is, maybe specific species are sensitive to the specific pressure of another species required for reproduction. In the plant example, they often use chemical signaling to repel predators (and note that plants are also "not conscious", and most are way less mobile than fungi).

Right, but the point of the pain is to remind conscious me to pull my foot away. But fungi (afaik) aren’t conscious, nor can move, so what’s the evolutionary advantage to this signaling?

omegaworks 6y ago

It may signal where to invest more effort into decomposing the material (if the pressure degrades the material) or where it wouldn't be a good idea to put effort into sprouting to reproduce (wouldn't make sense to put your reproductive organs in harm's way).

haimez 6y ago
Alternatively, where it _would_ be a good idea to produce spores if you want to hitch a ride on some passing foot traffic.

potatoman22 6y ago

We don't know. Interestingly enough, mushrooms also double their yield after a single high-voltage shock. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029503/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5029503/

robotbikes 6y ago

I am kind of partial to the pan-psychic notion of all plants and animals who are living having something that could resemble consciousness or at least an experience of existing. It may not resemble the part of our consciousness that forms words and likes to project an ego into the world but perhaps the experiences we have while dreaming or non-verbally perceiving. I suspect that the experience of being a mycelium would be very alien to anything we can easily imagine. But this whole concept is best explored in science-fiction for now.

fogihujy 6y ago
The idea that fungi would have rudimentary communication pathways isn't really that insane. That doesn't necessarily make it true, but it always strikes me as odd when people talk about plants, fungi and other non-animal life as if it wasn't life at all. The Xenofungus from the video game Alpha Centauri comes to mind.

arrosenberg 6y ago

Depends on your definition of conscious, I suppose. Fungi can definitely move, just not via locomotion - fungi expand through mycelial networks and reproduction. Who knows what the specific function is, maybe specific species are sensitive to the specific pressure of another species required for reproduction. In the plant example, they often use chemical signaling to repel predators (and note that plants are also "not conscious", and most are way less mobile than fungi).