<p>If we understood the true complexity of the natural world, would we call it conscious? Would we begin to question the boundaries we put between ourselves and everything around us?</p><br><p>We explore these questions with biologist Merlin Sheldrake and science journalist Zoë Schlanger. Their bestselling books, "Entangled Life" and "The Light Eaters", required monk-like study and deep immersion in the natural world. What they discovered quietly dismantles some of our most basic assumptions about intelligence, memory, and what individuality really means.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Recorded during Harvard Divinity School's "Thinking with Plants and Fungi" conference, this special episode brings together Merlin, Zoë, host Elizabeth Rovere, and guest co-host Rachael Peterson, the "Thinking with Plants and Fungi" Initiative Program Lead at Harvard, to explore:</p><br><p>✦ Whether plants have personalities and why they might be kinder to kin&nbsp;</p><p>✦ How a brainless slime mold can navigate its way out of an IKEA faster than a human</p><p>✦ How flatworms put into question where memory actually lives</p><p>✦ Whether it's possible to ferment a book and drink it</p><br><p>When we stop centering the individual and truly reckon with the entangled nature of all living things, something shifts. The question stops being how do we include more-than-human perspectives… it starts being whether that separation even makes sense to begin with.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Chapters:</p><p>00:00:00 Introduction </p><p>00:01:10 How to Write About the Hidden World </p><p>00:04:45 The Myth of the Individual </p><p>00:09:53 We Are Polluting Our Own Home </p><p>00:15:14 The Problem Isn't Science. It's Language. </p><p>00:18:18 The Plant That Can Copy Anything </p><p>00:24:25 As Temperatures Rise, Fungi Are Evolving </p><p>00:28:31 Do Plants Have Personalities and Prefer Their Family?</p><br><p>Follow Merlin Sheldrake:</p><p>Website: <a href="https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/</a></p><p>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/merlin.sheldrake" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/merlin.sheldrake</a></p><p>YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/merlinsheldrake" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/user/merlinsheldrake</a>&nbsp;</p><p>Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds &amp; Shape Our Futures: <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566795/entangled-life-by-merlin-sheldrake/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566795/entangled-life-by-merlin-sheldrake/</a>&nbsp;</p><br><p>Follow Zoë Schlanger:&nbsp;</p><p>Website: <a href="https://www.zoeschlanger.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.zoeschlanger.com/</a></p><p>Bluesky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/zoeschlanger.bsky.social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bsky.app/profile/zoeschlanger.bsky.social</a></p><p>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/zoeschlanger/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/zoeschlanger/</a>&nbsp;</p><p>The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth: <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-light-eaters-zoe-schlanger?variant=41096248295458" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-light-eaters-zoe-schlanger?variant=41096248295458</a>&nbsp;</p><br><p>Follow Wonderstruck:</p><p>Website:<a href="https://wonderstruck.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://wonderstruck.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wonderstruck.org</a></p><p>Substack: <a href="https://newsletter.wonderstruck.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://newsletter.wonderstruck.org</a>&nbsp;</p><p>YouTube:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@wonderstruckpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.youtube.com/@wonderstruckpod</a></p><p>Instagram:<a href="https://www.instagram.com/wonderstruckpod/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://www.instagram.com/wonderstruckpod/</a>&nbsp;</p><p>TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wonderstruckpod</p><p>Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wonderstruckpod</p><p>Apple Podcasts:<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wonderstruck/id1671879661" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wonderstruck/id1671879661</a>&nbsp;</p><p>Spotify:<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6fS5boWGwYTShddG7SKlVw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> https://open.spotify.com/show/6fS5boWGwYTShddG7SKlVw</a></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>