DeepSummary
In this episode, Terry Gross interviews WNBA star Brittney Griner about her nearly 300 days of imprisonment in Russian prisons. Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport for possessing a small amount of medically prescribed cannabis and charged with drug smuggling. She describes the horrific conditions in the Russian penal colony, including lack of clean water, poor food, and cramped living quarters.
Griner discusses the physical and emotional toll of her imprisonment, including nightmares and difficulty opening up about her experience. She also talks about her advocacy work for Americans detained abroad and her interest in prison reform in the US. The episode also features a review by jazz historian Kevin Whitehead of a 1959 Sonny Rollins reissue.
Climate journalist Zoë Schlanger joins the episode to discuss her book on plant intelligence. She explores the latest research suggesting that plants communicate, process information, and make choices, challenging our understanding of intelligence and consciousness. Schlanger argues that plants exhibit agency and may possess a diffuse form of awareness or "brain" throughout their structure.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Brittney Griner endured horrific conditions and trauma during her nearly 300-day imprisonment in Russian prisons for possessing a small amount of medically prescribed cannabis.
- The latest research suggests that plants exhibit intelligence, agency, and the ability to process information, communicate, and make choices, challenging our understanding of consciousness.
- Griner's experience has motivated her to advocate for prison reform and the release of Americans detained abroad.
- Griner continues to face emotional and physical impacts from her traumatic imprisonment, including nightmares and difficulty discussing her experience.
- The episode also includes a review of a 1959 Sonny Rollins reissue by jazz historian Kevin Whitehead.
- Schlanger argues that plant intelligence may be spread out through their structure in a "diffuse mat of awareness" rather than centralized like an animal brain.
- Griner faced homophobic treatment during her imprisonment, being asked inappropriate questions about her sexuality during a psychiatric evaluation.
- The deplorable conditions in Russian prisons included lack of clean water, poor food, cramped quarters, and exposure to extreme cold.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “It became very clear to me that plants have this, they have this lively ability to make choices for themselves, to plan for the future, to use information from their environment and mix it with experiences in their past, to make really wise choices for their future.“ by Zoe Schlanger
- “You're out there for about an hour, hour and a half, and literally, blistering cold, blizzard, doesn't matter. Snow literally was building up on my shoulders and my head, where people would have to, like, knock it off.“ by Brittany Griner
- “Maybe it doesn't need to route that signal back to a centralized place. Maybe it's something more like what we're finding with fungi, this kind of diffuse mat of awareness that is yet very capable of understanding what's going on with all parts of it.“ by Zoe Schlanger
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Episode Information
Fresh Air
NPR
5/11/24
Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead reviews a 1959 Sonny Rollins reissue.
And we'll talk about plant intelligence with climate journalist Zoë Schlanger. Her book is The Light Eaters.
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