The Sentience of Plants

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Plants feel pain—and they also empathize with the pain of others. Yes, you read that right. Plants are sentient in ways that may blow your mind. A scientist who trained N.Y.P.D. detectives and F.B.I. agents in using the polygraph for lie-detection discovered this.

In 1966, curiosity struck. Backster had just poured himself a cup of coffee when he noticed a houseplant, a Dracaena fragrans his secretary bought to brighten the office.

He connected a polygraph to a plant leaf. What if a lie detector could read plants? What happened next defied logic. When he watered the plant, the polygraph showed activity resembling human emotion. Backster wondered: Could plants feel?

To test this, he decided to burn a leaf with a matchstick. But as soon as he thought about harming the plant, the polygraph went wild. The plant didn’t just react to his actions—it sensed his intent.

Even when he pretended to harm the plant, it didn’t respond. But real intent? That triggered a reaction every time. It gets weirder. Backster found plants could empathize. In one experiment, a plant was hooked to a polygraph while shrimp were dropped into boiling water.

The plant reacted sharply, as if sensing their pain. The empathy didn’t stop there. Backster saw his plants respond when he fed his dog by breaking open an egg, or even cut his finger. Plants seemed attuned to the emotional states of creatures around them—human, animal/insect.

Distance didn’t matter. When Backster was away on trips, his plants reacted to moments of stress or danger he experienced. Even more incredible? They showed excitement the moment he decided to return home.

Plants behave like telepathic, empathic beings. They feel, anticipate, and connect with life around them. Backster’s experiments challenge everything we know about sentience.

So next time you pass a houseplant, remember: they’re sentient just like you. "Sentience is the ability to feel pain. " -James True