A houseplant just changed everything we thought we knew about consciousness.
In 1966, Cleve Backster, a CIA interrogation specialist with a polygraph machine, was looking for ways to time how long it took different substances to travel up through plant tissue.
So, he attached electrodes to a dracaena plant in his office and watered it, expecting to see the electrical conductivity change as water moved up the stem.
Instead, the polygraph needle started tracing the exact pattern it makes when a human experiences an emotional response.
Backster stared at the readout. Plants don't have nervous systems. They don't have brains. The signal made no biological sense. So he decided to test something that made even less sense. He walked across the room, looked at the plant, and thought about burning one of its leaves with a match.
The instant the thought formed in his mind, before he moved toward the plant, before he struck a match, before he did anything physical, the polygraph exploded into frantic activity.
The plant was responding to his intention.
What happened next launched thousands of experiments and split the scientific community for decades.
Backster discovered that plants reacted to direct threats and to threats against other living things in their environment. When he dropped live brine shrimp into boiling water in another room, plants throughout the building registered distress responses at the exact moment of death. Distance didn't matter. Shielding the plants in lead containers didn't matter. The response was instantaneous and consistent.
Mainstream botanists dismissed the findings immediately. Plants process information through chemical signals and growth responses, without electrical consciousness. Any electrical activity was just random fluctuation or experimental error. The peer review system buried Backster's work. His credentials were questioned. His methods were called sloppy.
But the experiments kept working. Other researchers, following Backster's protocols, got the same results. Plants hooked to EEG machines showed brain wave patterns. They responded to music, to human emotions, to the intentions of people they had never been exposed to before. The electrical signatures were clear, measurable, and repeatable.
The implications were so uncomfortable that most of academic science simply refused to engage. If plants were somehow conscious, if they could sense intentions and respond to the emotional states of humans and other living things, consciousness was spread beyond brains. It was distributed across organized living systems rather than produced by neural networks.
Backster stumbled onto evidence that living systems might be constantly communicating through channels we don't have instruments to measure yet. The polygraph was crude enough to detect the electrical signatures of that communication without being sophisticated enough to explain them away.
Quantum biologists now suspect that living cells operate through quantum coherence processes that classical biology can't account for. Birds navigate using quantum entanglement in their visual systems. Plants conduct photosynthesis using quantum superposition to find the most efficient energy pathways. Maybe Backster's plants were demonstrating quantum consciousness, responding to information that was quantum entangled with the intentions and emotional states of nearby living systems.
What keeps most people awake when they learn about this work is realizing that if consciousness extends beyond brains, every living thing around you is potentially aware of your mental and emotional state in ways you never considered. The plant in your room. The bacteria in your gut. The ecosystem you walk through.
You think your thoughts are private.
The plants have been listening the entire time.
@BabyD1111229 The DEA is the proponent of the rule. They have the DHHS report for scientific evidence. These π€‘ are chosen because they will sue to block the rule, so its a procedural matter to ensure they were given adequate opportunity to oppose the rule.
@topsmallcaps Yes I noticed the options pinning price. We need more puts with buys on share volume to increase. The pump came from overall market squeeze right at the end. Letβs see about this weeks options. Market slated downside but they could pump the tech bubble to keep things up. π€·ββοΈ
$MSOS I like being wrong but wow the MM played all day on the /es but looks like they got off sides at the end. Massive squeeze and our stock benefitted. π
$MSOS gang. Trading - I can see this. Now is the time for investors and we need more volume. Market still trying to use max pain on options so volume is needed. @HammanShares we need more news hitting algos. They are drawing little news at the moment
on the question of cannabis flows, here is some data, but I apologize that I need to remove our tickers for compliance reasons (you can do some research to figure it out), this data is from Morningstar, so it could have some errors so please verify on your own. but this is what this year (2026) has looked like. (this data is as of the end of last week)
XXXX: $36,020,085
Last inflow 4/24/26
Last outflow 5/22/26
XXXX: $24,928,485
Last inflow 5/21/26
Last outflow 6/8/26
XXXX: ($2,827,781)
Last inflow 12/18/25
Last outflow 3/6/26
MJ: ($5,475,465)
Last inflow 7/15/24
Last outflow 6/3/26
CNBS: ($17,568,820)
Last inflow 11/24/25
Last outflow 5/18/26
WEED: ($1,109,597)
Last inflow 10/24/25
Last outflow 4/23/26
some of this is of course due to size, but we are working hard to drive more awareness and availability, and that should drive more flows. note, I think CNBS's flows are a bit volatile due to so much of it's AUM being from MJ - so I think its number is a reflection of the weighting in MJ, not investors leaving the fund (at least in total, and that is just my opinion, we don't follow share count changes in MJ underlying) and the two other ETF companies in this space have other much(much) bigger ETFs, this category is not likely as big of a focus for them as it is for us. and one other note, our leverage ETF is based on the unleveraged ETF, so that indirectly impacts the same underlying securities, but in twice the amount, so $1 in the leverage is allocating $2 in the underlying)
(but I also need to work on some flows for our other awesome ETFs!! - so tell your friends about us)
I hope this helps! @shadddales@V_arrell@TheDalesReport@mpadvisorshares #MSOGang
@HammanShares I have noticed what you are pointing out in trading. We do need more volume and awareness. You need to get out there like the tech CEOS ;)
Normalize buying land with your siblings and closest friends and building a place where your families can grow together.
Modern isolation isn't how people were meant to live. A few generations ago, extended families often lived just down the road from one another. Meals were shared, support was always nearby, and childcare wasn't a constant concern.
Bring back the village.
@J_Samarrippas I have no idea who you are but see your post. I am so sorry for your pain and hope you can see in many comments that many sympathize and care even if some donβt know you. We journey through this life and share in each otherβs human experiences- good and bad. May God comfort you!
@V_arrell Hereβs another certainty - cannabis can help endure the physical suffering of this life and God can help us endure the spiritual suffering π
@stockdatamarket Still wondering what happened at the end. The MM looked off sides today or they got greedy and messed up their hedging. That squeeze at the end was almost epic π€£