The Science of a Fern Science of Everything Book

YOU DID NOT GROW A FERN
You acquired a fern. You placed it somewhere optimistic. You watered it with confidence. You occasionally rotated it as if it were a participant in the arrangement. And then, slowly, quietly, without consulting you, the fern made its own decisions. Because a fern is not a decoration. It is not a houseplant in the sense that it responds to your intentions. It is a biological system that predates your entire concept of gardening by hundreds of millions of years, operating on rules that were established when trees were still experimental and insects were negotiating the concept of wings. You are not its manager. You are not its partner. You are, at best, a variable.