In this Curiosity Entangled conversation, sonic artist and immersive ecology designer Mileece and philosopher of plant intelligence Paco Calvo explore plant sentience, sound, consciousness, ecology, and the limits of human perception.
Mileece has spent decades using sound, technology, and immersive ecological design to help people experience their living relationship with plants and natural systems. Paco Calvo, professor of philosophy of science at the University of Murcia and author of Planta Sapiens, studies plant intelligence, behavior, and the assumptions that shape how science understands non-animal life.
Together, they discuss plant anesthesia, sonic art, scientific dogma, anthropocentrism, panpsychism, pollination, relational ecology, and what it means to think of life itself as minded.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00:07 – Mileece opens with microtubules, time crystals, and a playful path into big questions
00:00:27 – Paco Calvo asks how art, technology, and ecology connect in Mileece’s work
00:02:42 – Mileece on art as an entry point for questions science cannot yet formalize
00:04:10 – Paco on why art and science should move in both directions
00:06:03 – Mileece on the responsibility of artists in this moment on Earth
00:07:02 – Using technology to facilitate people’s innate relationship with nature
00:08:07 – Why art allowed Mileece to discuss plant consciousness before science was ready
00:10:08 – Paco on plant anesthesia and the power of outsider questions
00:13:00 – What does it mean for a plant to come out of anesthesia?
00:15:09 – Mileece on watching insects, bumblebees, and the limits of human dogma
00:16:31 – Externalities, economics, and the danger of ignoring contextual reality
00:19:39 – Robotic Buddhist monks, anthropomorphism, and the Dalai Lama’s view on plant sentience
00:24:48 – Paco on human bias beyond Western science
00:26:37 – Time scales, empathy, and learning to meet other beings on their own terms
00:29:01 – Mileece explains why she works with sound and plants
00:31:16 – Relational ecology and the false separation between humans and nature
00:32:31 – “Every inhalation we take is the exhalation of plants”
00:34:11 – Sound as a bridge to the hidden living relationships in ecology
00:36:29 – Paco on relational thinking, pollinators, flowers, and coevolution
00:39:08 – Why the whole plant can be understood as a sensory surface
00:40:04 – Why science loses the relationship when it freezes life into snapshots
00:43:08 – Sentience, decision-making, and unconscious processes inside living cells
00:44:02 – Paco’s view that where there is life, there is mind
00:45:06 – Neurocentrism, carbon-centrism, and the slippery slope toward panpsychism
00:47:35 – Mileece on emergence, coherence, and life as a relational state
00:51:02 – Mycorrhizal networks and the question of who gets to be the “main character”
00:55:39 – Communicating with radically different forms of life
00:57:14 – Mileece on wanting to communicate with plants and building sonification systems
01:00:54 – Mileece reflects on criticism, skepticism, and proving the legitimacy of the question
GUESTS
Mileece – Sonic Artist, Immersive Ecology Designer, and Biophilic Energy Ambassador
Paco Calvo – Professor of Philosophy of Science, University of Murcia; Author of Planta Sapiens
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ABOUT CURIOSITY ENTANGLED
Curiosity Entangled pairs distinguished thinkers from different disciplines for unscripted conversations about science, technology, philosophy, and humanity’s long-term future. Produced by Accelerator Media, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to thoughtful educational media and long-term thinking.
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