The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

The traditional understanding of intelligence is shaped by human-centric views. Historically, perceptions of animal intelligence were driven by a comparison to human intelligence. During the Enlightenment, scientists believed animals were like machines, driven by fixed biological instincts. Because Enlightenment thinkers were champions of rationalism, they did not believe animals shared humans’ cognitive abilities for reasoning. Anthropocentrism centralizes human experience, and Enlightenment thinkers exhibited anthropocentrism by diminishing anything that contrasted with a human version of intelligence. In The Light Eaters, Schlanger challenges this view with a question: What if intelligence does not have to look like human intelligence?

Schlanger’s question reflects an explosion of new research that suggests human perception has limited scientific inquiry and how we think about life, creativity, community, and thinking. Contemporary researchers like Frans de Wall, Mark Bekoff, and Michael Levin seek a more comprehensive understanding of what intelligence means—one that diverges from the limitations of human perception. De Wall, a primatologist, argues that human intelligence is indistinguishable from all animal intelligence. American biologist Mark Bekoff illuminates the complex emotional experiences of animals, while Michael Levin—a synthetic biologist—explores what all this means for artificial intelligence.

The Light Eaters is part of a larger trend to better understand the ecological world.