Earlier quoted context omitted.
They’re priced by different algorithms that “outbid” each other.
Do they start them at $1'000 and let them bid down from there?
This isn't exactly related, but it's one of my favorite blog posts.
An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
151–159 of 159 posts
Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Such as whether we are unique and special, or that we may also be deterministic automatons and free will doesn't exist. That's only scratching the surface of the implications. The real question arises when we have to decide what moral rights consciousness proffers. A lot of arguments for and against vegetarianism, for instance, focus on whether animals suffer in a way that we would understand as suffering. A lot of…
Don't worry, if it is conscious it will fight back and have a will of its own. It won't be hard to tell. But we could quickly settle this question if we checked some things first: does it need anything (have necessities)? does it learn? can it act on its environment? Can it evolve? Is it part of a group or alone? If no, then it's probably not conscious. All the conscious agents I know have one and the same ultimate g…
>Don't worry, if it is conscious it will fight back and have a will of its own. It won't be hard to tell.
Ever threatened legal action against a multinational corporation?
Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But my theory falls apart with the reproduction system. We don't really reproduce other 'countries'. Sure we do. The UK has a whole lot of offspring, for instance.
Offspring, perhaps. But kidnapping is not reproduction.
Xenomorphs (or less exotically, parasitic wasps) reproduce just fine in that style.
Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#154> Ants use the rate at which they meet and smell other ants, or the chemicals deposited by other ants, to decide what to do next. A neuron uses the rate at which it is stimulated by other neurons to decide whether to fire. In both cases, memory arises from changes in how ants or neurons connect and stimulate each other. Main takeaway, very interesting analogy. Ant colonies are great examples of complex systems with e…
> Main takeaway, very interesting analogy. Ant colonies are great examples of complex systems with emergent large-scale behavior. Indeed the same could be said about networks of neurons. Interesting to think of an ant colony as the sum of oscillations of signals. Indeed. I've long thought that an ant colony should be seen as a single individual, rather than a group. One part which can procreate, like the reproductive…
An interesting religious motif example would be something akin to the body of Christ. We're all members of a larger function or culture.
Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#155I feel like this is tangentially related: https://wiki.c2.com/?TheFiveMonkeys
Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Main takeaway, very interesting analogy. Ant colonies are great examples of complex systems with emergent large-scale behavior. Indeed the same could be said about networks of neurons. Interesting to think of an ant colony as the sum of oscillations of signals. Or perhaps like a Fourier decomposition of a complex waveform. Whereby each ant essentially becomes a constituent "wave" in a complex signal.
That's my intuition for the brain, as well. Something to do with composition and relative independence, from which arise incredible complexity, "multi-dimensional" processing — it's a big, big graph. You might have to consider several such "waves" in ant colonies — maybe one electrically defined for a certain type of information; another chemically defined for another domain; etc.
Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's my intuition for the brain, as well. Something to do with composition and relative independence, from which arise incredible complexity, "multi-dimensional" processing — it's a big, big graph. You might have to consider several such "waves" in ant colonies — maybe one electrically defined for a certain type of information; another chemically defined for another domain; etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuramoto_model
Immensely interesting food for thought. Thanks!
Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#158Re: An ant colony has memories its individual members don’t have (2019)
#159> Ants use the rate at which they meet and smell other ants, or the chemicals deposited by other ants, to decide what to do next. A neuron uses the rate at which it is stimulated by other neurons to decide whether to fire. In both cases, memory arises from changes in how ants or neurons connect and stimulate each other. Main takeaway, very interesting analogy. Ant colonies are great examples of complex systems with e…
This reminded me of a theory I've been developing, I don't know if others have had it or have it, however an emergent behaviour that I've had some inklings may be true for humans relating to how old the parents are when having children. If having children at an older age (whether older age of male, female, or both) it could mean that resources and society are more stable - and perhaps another factor that there's more…
I would think having kids younger, as long as the parents are not resource constrained - stable financially - would be more advantageous.
The parents would be around and healthy to help their kids emotionally and/or financially through their young adult years and the kids would be less likely to have to take care of their parents while trying to get their own life off the ground.