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PlantCom1 is a plant communicator based on the research of Cleve Backster in the 1960s. Cleve Backster was an interrogation specialist for the CIA, best known for his experiments with plants using a polygraph instrument which led to his theory of “Primary perception” where he claimed that plants “feel pain” and have extrasensory perception (ESP). In February 1966, Backster attached polygraph electrodes to a Dracaena cane plant to measure, at first, the time taken for water to reach the leaves. The electrodes are used to measure galvanic skin response (GSR) and the plant showed readings which resembled that of a human. This made Backster try different scenarios, and the readings went off the chart when he thought about burning a leaf, because according to him, the plant registered a stress response to his thoughts of harming it. He conducted another similar experiment where he observed a plant’s response to the death of brine shrimp in another room; his results convinced him that plants demonstrated telepathic awareness. He argued that plants perceived human intentions, and as he began to investigate further, he also reported finding that other human thoughts and emotions caused reactions in plants, which could be recorded by a polygraph instrument. PlantCom1 is an automatically centering GSR circuit with an audio output and a LED bargraph to represent the markings of a polygraph machine. PlantCom1 is operated by connecting electrodes to leaves of a plant, adjusting the amplifier knob to 0.30V, then adjusting the Sensitivity knob. The Sensitivity knob is an exclusion window that eliminates audio output below a threshold set by the user with the purpose of only hearing more extreme events. Changes in plant activity is observed audibly when the voltage levels are converted to an audio signal, changing the frequency based on voltage levels, and visually, by watching changes on the bargraph. When voltages are above the baseline, LEDs light up on the right half of the bargraph, when voltages are below the baseline, LEDs light up on the left half of the bargraph. The LED progression is logarithmic, each light is twice the voltage level of the previous light in the array.
