Ok, helpful clarification, but still even experiencing pain wouldn't mean they're necessarily the same as animals, it wouldn't mean there can't be something else that differentiates the two

Is it proven that plants experience pain or it's a theory? All plants or there are certain ones? Same as animal pain, or a bit different but still in the genre of "pain"?

If I asked you whether you'd rather rip apart swiss chard or a squirrel right now, I feel like I know what you'd answer.

So I'm skeptical of the idea that "plant consciousness" means they're necessarily on the same ethical footing, because clearly there's "something" that makes the squirrel different to us. And I don't think our instincts are wrong and firing wildly.