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Planting potatoes in his garden a few years ago, and watching bees harvest nectar from the blossoms of a nearby apple tree, author Michael Pollan had a revelation. It wasn’t the bees calling the shots with the tree, nor him with the potatoes. Both insect and human had, in fact, been manipulated by the plants to do their bidding — in other words, seduced into spreading their genes.

Pollan books on food, such as the Omnivore’s Dilemma, have made him a one-man crusader for rethinking the connections between plants, humans and ecosystems. And as recounted his garden revelation in a 2008 talk at the reknowned annual TED conference (video above and at TED site; length 17:29), he outlined the broader implications of seeing human and other animal actors from the plant’s point of view. Watch the video and share your thoughts below.

Plus, see a word cloud of Michael Pollan’s 2008 TED speech: