I invited some people to Yu Fukusawa, and after it was over they all said you're a real fungi to be with.
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thank you, thank you... I'll be here all week.
Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
11–20 of 34 posts
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
And where, exactly, does it store the information that it has already searched an area? and how does it avoid dedicating resources to re-searching it?
How do tree roots know whether they should fuse with other roots or not? How do plant leaves know to grow opposite of other leaves? How do stripes form on a tiger? Chemical gradients.
I was at a fungus event yesterday (really) and they spoke a bit about patterns in nature and how they are similar to Turing Patterns.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_pattern
> ... arises due to the interplay between differential diffusion (i.e., different values of diffusion coefficients) of chemical species and chemical reaction.
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#13Wow, stealing my own comment from last week’s Grokking at the edge of linear separability because it applies here even more so: this paper is so simple, dumb, and absolutely breathtakingly interesting. Thanks for sharing! Never would I have thought that “mycelium doesn’t explore the center of a circle” would hold such profound insight… For those interested, heres the paper itself: https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc…
In re: your point #1, I wonder how much might Shinto figures into this?
In re: your point #2, it's meaningless word salad. Even the most diligent parser of the text will come up with absolutely nothing sensible.
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do tree roots know whether they should fuse with other roots or not? How do plant leaves know to grow opposite of other leaves? How do stripes form on a tiger? Chemical gradients.
I was at a fungus event yesterday (really) and they spoke a bit about patterns in nature and how they are similar to Turing Patterns. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_pattern > ... arises due to the interplay between differential diffusion (i.e., different values of diffusion coefficients) of chemical species and chemical reaction.
There’s an old bonsai trick to force a branch to appear by cutting or bruising the wood above the point so that the cells that differentiate into buds can no longer see the signal from the apical bud, which in species that have them, is telling the rest of the tree to give it all of the energy so it can outcompete other trees reaching for the canopy.
Meanwhile if you prune the apical bud to try to keep the tree small, it will just elect another leader and keep growing on a side branch.
I have a tree in my yard that got nibbled by insects when it was chest high. Killed the crown bud but not its two siblings. One of them won, then stood up straight and two years later you can barely tell.
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was at a fungus event yesterday (really) and they spoke a bit about patterns in nature and how they are similar to Turing Patterns. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_pattern > ... arises due to the interplay between differential diffusion (i.e., different values of diffusion coefficients) of chemical species and chemical reaction.
There’s an old bonsai trick to force a branch to appear by cutting or bruising the wood above the point so that the cells that differentiate into buds can no longer see the signal from the apical bud, which in species that have them, is telling the rest of the tree to give it all of the energy so it can outcompete other trees reaching for the canopy. Meanwhile if you prune the apical bud to try to keep the tree small…
This is fascinating. Where could I learn more about these sorts of bonsai techniques? Is there a book or website that you would particularly recommend? I’ve always been intrigued by bonsai but if you do a basic web search it’s just people selling trash.
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#16I like fungi as much as the next guy, but I can't help but feel like this might be attributing more meaning than is really there. Wouldn't the whole result also be described by chemical gradients in food and water availability? Maybe this is addressed in the full paper, but it feels like that would be a simpler model that gives the same end result?
I couldn’t agree more. The paper leaves mushroom for doubt.
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s an old bonsai trick to force a branch to appear by cutting or bruising the wood above the point so that the cells that differentiate into buds can no longer see the signal from the apical bud, which in species that have them, is telling the rest of the tree to give it all of the energy so it can outcompete other trees reaching for the canopy. Meanwhile if you prune the apical bud to try to keep the tree small…
This is fascinating. Where could I learn more about these sorts of bonsai techniques? Is there a book or website that you would particularly recommend? I’ve always been intrigued by bonsai but if you do a basic web search it’s just people selling trash.
Try Heron Bonsai on YouTube. I’m actually out of the hobby because I kill trees unless they’re in the ground.
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#18I like fungi as much as the next guy, but I can't help but feel like this might be attributing more meaning than is really there. Wouldn't the whole result also be described by chemical gradients in food and water availability? Maybe this is addressed in the full paper, but it feels like that would be a simpler model that gives the same end result?
I think you can argue that humans are only searching for "chemical gradients in food and water availability"
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#19Looks more to me like self identification, and natural selection. That’s not a lot of wood for 120 days. This fungus is trying to maximize its chances by reaching out as far as it can to find more wood before it dies of starvation. Away from where it has already searched.
When you describe the fungus as trying to do something, you just ascribed intelligence to it.
Re: Do Fungi Recognize Shapes?
#20Looks more to me like self identification, and natural selection. That’s not a lot of wood for 120 days. This fungus is trying to maximize its chances by reaching out as far as it can to find more wood before it dies of starvation. Away from where it has already searched.
When you describe the fungus as trying to do something, you just ascribed intelligence to it.
Almost all living beings process signals(especially chemical signals), bacteria for example starts making beta lactamase in presence of antibiotics.