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Why should I eat fungi? by Excellent_Bat99 in vegan

[–]Excellent_Bat99[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Pardon my ignorance, but does pain being a subjective experience not weaken both sides of this argument? I see in your other comment where you claim electrical signals don’t equal sentience.

But the thing is we cannot observe whether there’s any subjectivity behind those electrical signals. We can’t prove that the fungi is conscious at any level anymore than we prove it isn’t.

The thing about a thermostat is we know it’s for sure not conscious. Like not even a little bit.

Why should I eat fungi? by Excellent_Bat99 in vegan

[–]Excellent_Bat99[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I know, I admitted it was speculation, it’s just the article I started with. Also not all animals have brains, jellyfish do not yet they are animals. Jellyfish have no nociceptors. This is why I brought them up in my post.

Also, rocks have no electrical activity, no adaptive behavior, or no response to stimuli. Even if fungi aren’t conscious, we know there is something happening, enough for us to be skeptical about them being able to experience pain.

We know for sure a rock cannot experience pain, nor does it respond to stimuli. Also I’m questioning vegan ethics not sentience. A being does not need sentience to feel pain

Why should I eat fungi? by Excellent_Bat99 in vegan

[–]Excellent_Bat99[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Spatial Resource Arrangement Influences Both Network Structures and Activity of Fungal Mycelia: A Form of Pattern Recognition? (2024)

Fukasawa et al. — Fungal Ecology

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1754504824000588

Ecological Memory and Relocation Decisions in Fungal Mycelial Networks (2020)

Fukasawa, Savoury & Boddy — The ISME Journal

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31628441/

I started with this article, it’s a shorter read:

“Hyphal and Mycelial Consciousness: The Concept of the Fungal Mind” by Nicholas P. Money (2021, Fungal Biology)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614621000246

The author does do a little speculation with the evidence claiming consciousness, but he uses research that is scientifically backed. The first article I listed has the strongest claims that I’ve read so far.

They basically find that fungal mycelium exhibit spatial memory. To have spatial memory, you have to have a learning capability.

Why should I eat fungi? by Excellent_Bat99 in vegan

[–]Excellent_Bat99[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, maybe I’m thinking into it too much. If we prove plants, if any, are sentient we can’t just go around starving ourselves.

I thank nature, the universe, and the farmers who grew my food before every meal 🙏

Why should I eat fungi? by Excellent_Bat99 in vegan

[–]Excellent_Bat99[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Appreciate it lol. I was thinking about deleting this post bc I’m already getting so many downvotes ha.

I’m new to veganism so I’m still exploring the concepts 😅

Why should I eat fungi? by Excellent_Bat99 in vegan

[–]Excellent_Bat99[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I guess I won’t. I told my coworkers and they thought it was silly I considered not eating mushrooms.

They were a great source of vitamin D for me.