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Showing posts with the label self-organization

Organized Black Fly Maggots

The black soldier fly maggot is voracious and really active.   The issue at hand is how thousands of them eat, say a piece of fruit. An important fact about our friends is they only eat for about five minutes and then “relax.”   But if they are still near the food, they will block other maggots from eating.   So for all to feed, they (self) organize.   This is not to say they are intelligent, no more so than the average undergrad.   They organize into a vortex of flow where the hungrier maggots come from below toward the food supply pushing the relaxed maggots up (and over the top).   The result is a vortex-like flow, sort of like a fountain or volcano. View from Below This is an example of dynamics, created by self-organized behavior, that feeds all.   The maggots do this (a) without a plan, and (b) without a leader.   One of the problems in understanding self-organization is to find the driver.   In this case, it is hunge

Robots and the Future

Many robots, at the industrial, home, and combat levels now exist.   They are becoming more powerful almost at a Moore’s law rate of doubling capacity every 18 months.   For decades now, many movies have depicted robots at more human levels.   Many of these films and let’s say “philosophers of robotics” suggest robots exceeding human capacity in almost every way.   One recent movie, “The Machine”, illustrates a robot vastly more powerful that humans, intellectually and emotionally, but also more human that humans.   They can pass the Turing test (Imitation game*) easily.   Ray Kurzweil** suggests that computer intellectual capacity will exceed humans by 2050,   easily passing the Turning test, and that by 2099 clear distinctions between humans and machines will no longer exist.   This is a tall order, if only considering the aspects of problems solving.***     Steven Hawking**** suggests that robots may be the next evolutionary step of humanity, and that perhaps humans have co