The Banning of 🟢 Moss Balls

The founder of 🦋 GMODebate.org is a decades-long defender of free will. GMODebate.org was founded in February 2022 to defend animals and plants against eugenics.

The founder experienced modern forms of exile for questioning sensitive topics and was banned often, for example for criticizing the Big Bang theory. These banishments even extended to his business and private life, including a mysterious WordPress plugin ban and the 🟢 Moss Ball ban story that is described in this article.

In the years before the founding of 🦋 GMODebate.org, the founder was actively involved in discussing and investigating the topic plant consciousness. He was even banned for it on vegan discussion forums including 🥗 PhilosophicalVegan.com after a discussion quickly turned to argumentum ad hominem attacks to discredit the motive for discussing the topic.

That the issue wasn't specific to the founder of 🦋 GMODebate.org is illustrated by philosophy professor Michael Marder's work on plant sentience:

His claim that a plant is a sentient intelligent, social, complex being has been contested by some biologists, but a stronger reaction has come from animal-rights activists and vegans who fear their cause is undermined by extending a duty of respect to plants.

Philosopher: Plants are sentient beings that should be treated with respect Source: Irish Times | Book: Plant-Thinking: A Philosophy of Vegetal Life | michaelmarder.org

The logo of 🦋 GMODebate.org was created for 🥗 PhilosophicalVegan.com and was intended to be more friendly towards vegans as opposed to an original leaf with eyes avatar, after the sensitivity of the idea of eating living plants became evident.

🟢 Moss Balls and Plant Intelligence

In February 2021 the founder of GMODebate.org posted a message on Houzz.com to request attention for the idea that plants are living creatures for which the concept happiness may be applicable. The incentive for the post had been a news item about the discovery of moss balls that were moving in herds across the ice on the North Pole.

Later that month, a pet shop in Washington state sounded the alarm on a small 🦪 Ukrainian mollusk found on a moss ball. Shortly after, the banning of moss balls went viral.

While it is likely a coincidence, despite that the founder would become the founder of ✈️ MH17Truth.org and a correlated trail of banishments that he was enduring, such as a mysterious WordPress plugin ban, a ban on Space.com, or even a ban on AI Alignment Forum (AI ethics) for reporting corruption by Google, it is still an opportunity to provide attention for moss balls and plant intelligence.

Herds of 🟢 Moss Balls on the ❄️ North Pole

Glacier mice (moss balls) live on the ice and move by rolling. Scientists recently discovered that they move in herds across the ice.

The moss is not propelled by a slope, the wind or the sun, but the group moves in sync.

The glacier moss balls move together across the ice. Bartholomaus compares this to a school of fish or a flock of birds.

Bartholomaus said he hopes future generations will one day “sort out these great mysteries.”

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine | Phys.org

Google's info on the ban reports the following:

These moss ball shipments have been coming from Ukraine, which is a native habitat for zebra mussels, according to Wesley Daniel, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. It is illegal to own, sell or distribute live zebra mussels in the U.S.

Moss Balls as Pet

Moss balls are kept as pet by people around the world.

• https://mossballpets.com/
• https://ballsofmoss.com/

A quote of advice with regard care for a moss ball:

Waterlogged moss balls move up and down the fish tank. Remember, it’s a living organism and responds to environmental cues. We suggest you do your research to provide adequate care and also choose a place in your home before you actually make the purchase.

The movement of the moss balls across the ice on the North Pole is also an indication of intelligence:

“The whole colony of moss balls, this whole grouping, moves at about the same speeds and in the same directions,” Bartholomaus tells NPR. “Those speeds and directions can change over the course of weeks.”

He explains that herd of 30 moss balls that they observed first moved slowly southward before accelerating west, and then losing speed. The new data show that the moss balls don’t move randomly—but the researchers couldn’t yet deduce what’s driving them.

The glacier moss balls didn’t follow any pattern that the researchers checked. The moss wasn’t rolling down a slope, getting pushed by the wind, or following the sun.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine

Moss Balls Moving Around Rocks

There are small and large balls that manage to maintain the same speeds. This includes rolling up-hill and around rocks and obstacles.

Plant Intelligence

Recent scientific discoveries show that the root system of plants contains many neurotransmitters that are also present in the human brain, including dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin and histamine.

The discoveries further indicate that the root system of plants can grow many billions of cells at the tips of the roots that function similarly to brain neurons. For some plants, it would result in a number of neurons that rival those of the human brain.

(2015) Research Shows Plants Are Sentient Not only do plants engage in neuron-like activity and movement, they make mathematical computations, see us and, like animals that act altruistically, show kindness toward their relatives. Source: Good Nature Travel | The Society for Plant Neurobiology | The Society of plant signaling and behavior

Philosopher: Plants are sentient beings that should be treated with respect His claim that a plant is a sentient “intelligent, social, complex being” has been contested by some biologists, but a stronger reaction has come from animal-rights activists and vegans who fear their cause is undermined by extending a duty of respect to plants. Source: Irish Times | Book: Plant-Thinking: A Philosophy of Vegetal Life | michaelmarder.org (professor)