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Really interesting! I get the desire to wall-hug when in a new place or anxious, but I wonder if oversensitivity to stimuli also determine whether we instinctively like cities or are drawn to the open outdoors. NYC overstimulates me quickly with noise, bright light, and too many people pressing close, regardless of whether I hug walls. It’s never been my go-to place. As a kid in the Bay Area, I liked going to San Francisco occasionally, but far preferred wandering the open, wall-less hills.

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I think maybe you’ve Occam’s-razor-ed me with this, because you’re absolutely right. But you’re also making me wonder something more about me and populated 3d places: I work at home, mostly writing and reading and grading and etc. I often have to go across the street to the bustling pub in order to be able to write at all. It’s the perfect level of stimulation: it’s not deadly quiet and solitary like home, which tends to make me implode after a few hours, but it’s not so loud and busy that I get overstimulated or distracted totally from my work. It’s a balance.

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Great post!

Did you know that plants also respond to edges? They don't move, but grow, in response to stimuli so it's called thigmomorphogenesis (developmental changes in response to touch). Roots grow AWAY from obstacles, while things like pea tendrils grow towards them, for support.

Knowing whether the walls are an obstacle or a support . . . that's the hard thing!

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Of course, now that I think about it that makes total sense! How cool!

Walls as obstacle or support--okay wow you've really nailed something profound there, don't you think?

I want to go into the etymology of 'thigmomorphogenesis' vs. 'thigmotaxis' now. I wonder why the different terms.

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Look at me, being all profound 🧐. I think the big difference is that plants don't move so you can't use "taxis." Instead of moving to or away from things, they have to GROW to or away from things.

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They do move, though, don't they? Unless you mean a locomotor type movement as opposed to a stationary.

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YES! They do, but biologists are pretty adamant that "movement" means locomotion. (I'm not so sure). It's a facile way to distinguish plants from animals, e.g. that a plant can't run away from a predator, so it has to develop other methods of protection. But saying "plants are sessile", which plant biologists LOVE to do, doesn't really capture the ways they can move.

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Ooo! 'Sessile' is a super-cool word too, though...

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