Interview with Norbert Peeters at Holland Festival

NOTE: the interview will be in Dutch.

In his most recent book, Botanische Revolutie (Botanical Revolution), Norbert Peeters lets his readers get to know Darwins botanical insights and discoveries. He places them in an evolutionary context and shows that Darwins real revolution was in our way we look at plants.

“Charles Darwin ziet in dat het einde van een principieel verschil tussen mens en dier ook het einde inluidt van een verschil tussen dier en plant. Planten staan niet onderaan de ladder van het leven, inferieur aan dier en mens, maar zijn op hun eigen manier complex en misschien zelfs wel intelligent.”
– Norbert Peeters

Norbert thinks about how we can talk about the Anthropocene without taking the role of plants in account. He shifts the perspective to plants. How can we have a meaningful conversation with a plant? Are plants intelligent?

With three video fragments, he is going to explain why we should see plants as intelligent beings. Also he’s going to talk about why Darwins work on plants is forgotten.

What can we learn from plants? Do they have senses which humans don’t have, and more important: what can we learn from that? Is it possible to ‘listen’ to plants without those senses?

As you may know, the passing of time is different with plants and humans. How can we use this concept of time when we study plants? What happens when we play videos of plants on fast play? Also, he is going to share his thoughts on how plants can have a voice in the Parliament of Things.

Do you want to know more about Norbert Peeters and what he’s busy with? You can visit his website here.