If trees screamed when cut, would we deforest so ruthlessly? Plant neurobiology reveals new evidence—plants send electrical signals, release chemical warnings. No nervous system, but response systems exist.

Our anthropocentric worldview defines pain through vocal expression. Can’t scream, can’t suffer. But is pain only audible protest? Or any form of consciousness distress?

When attacked, trees send chemical signals to neighbors—”danger incoming.” Root networks share nutrients with stressed plants. Primitive empathy?

Most unsettling: our entire food chain built on silent suffering. We’ve created moral hierarchy based on vocal capacity. Cows scream, we feel guilt. Plants don’t, we feel nothing.

Perhaps consciousness is spectrum, not binary. Maybe pain exists wherever life resists death. Our gardens, forests, crops—silent screaming we can’t detect.

If plants suffer, our ethical framework is fundamentally flawed. We consume oxygen trees exhale, lead parasitic existence on unaware hosts.