Fungal Intelligence: Lead the way to improved technological systems

What could human engineers possibly learn from slime mold? Reliable, cost-efficient network construction, apparently: a recent experiment suggests that Physarum polycephalum, a gelatinous fungus-like mold, will actually lead the way to improved technological systems, such as more robust computer and mobile communication networks and AI problems.

This is the network formation in Physarum polycephalum. At t =0, a small plasmodium of Physarum was placed at the location of Tokyo in an experimental arena bounded by the Pacific coastline (white border) and supplemented with additional food sources at each of the major cities in the region. The plasmodium grew out from the initial food source with a contiguous margin and progressively colonized each of the food sources. Behind the growing margin, the spreading mycelium resolved into a network of tubes interconnecting the food sources.

[boscorner]

Omg I had no idea there was footage of these experiments . So glad I can show people now

[feokazaki]

I just came back here after HBO adaptation improved the lore with this detail. Loved it so much. Nature is so much more inteligent than human can admit.

[taniesaz]

i wonder if the philippine government used this for the subway station in the philippines but since there were already stations set up, i do hope that they expand and add more stations across NCR while using this experiment

[ElHuaso]

Does it even matter how many times you do this it probably replicates the same way and that’s so interesting to me

[RyanCiero]

"Tip of of the Mycelium Iceberg" Indeed

[et]

Fantastic, thank you for sharing this video.

[BASTBrushie]

As a French, when you start travel since Bordeaux to Lyon. You obliged to reach Paris. If you have lucky to have a train lol

[mohamedb]

of course it can solve maps and mazes, it does it through total coverage and weighing paths based on concentration. Let me explain, basically it links all the nodes in different configurations(eventually all the configurations as it spreads to cover the whole map) as it path finds. Then it picks out the path with the highest concentration of a "food molecule like glucose or something", this means said path is shorter, since in theory all paths linking all nodes should have the same mass or quantity of that food, but the shorter the path, the less volume it has, the higher the concentration, the more optimal it is. Now what would be more impressive is if it didn't have total coverage of the map, hence limited number of tries, then approximate(predict) the closest path to the optimal solution. Then again, it's just one cell, doing all that even when cheating is pretty impressive.

[juancorona]

Wonder if you can use them to create blueprints or prototypes of cars or buildings crazy to think about

[lifeofzen]

yall have to realize that designing the subway system is far more complicated then connecting oats in a Petri dish, with far more moving parts. Either way think of the mycelium’s action not as intelligence but just chemical logic. For an analogy, you have a circle on a piece of paper with the oats, you create a network that extends the entire area and moves those organic molecules(from oats) from area to area. Within this coverage there will inherently be a most efficient way through the network. From here the mycelium isn’t making a decision to reroute itself but rather down regulated everything that isn’t over a certain threshold. Thus the most efficient pathways appear yet that haven’t intelligently( from a conscious perspective) decided what it was. It’s Just logic yk?

[JohnW]

its kinda like ants if you look at the paths ants take... only more efficient, cause ants will never changes, the colony either grows or the colony doesn't grow at all cause all the ants are in death spiral and kill themselves. But fungi seem to be able to adapt on the fly and make new more efficient connections... kinda like your brain can do when you learn something new but it makes you understand something else you already knew, but better...

[maldacious]

The guy talking doesn’t need to make that sound every time he starts a new sentence 😭

[-ek]

Something bigger than us is going on for sure

[beingindian]

But why?
Wouldn't straight lines be a better choice?

[giorgioparducci]

What software di they use to make this experiments?

[JDIASPRODUCTIONS]

This is from Paul Stamets on JRE(Joe rogan experience)

[jacktaylor]

This is why I think humans r mushrooms

[cycloptiks]

I'm a huge fungus fan but this is kind of b.s. it just randomly gree put like any other plant and kept its routes to nutrient. Since it didn't have to deal with any obstacles like underground ledge, government zoning existing buildings it just went the easiest route. Any dummy would know to just make the lines straight lol

[stanleydembowski]

Where are the "decisions" made

[ithinkwhatithinkabout]

Maybe it could redesign certain cancer's