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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. Nature is Metal

Nature is Metal

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  • A Offline
    A Offline
    Axtremus
    wrote on 17 Dec 2023, 05:00 last edited by
    #345

    Link to video

    1 Reply Last reply
    • M Offline
      M Offline
      Mik
      wrote on 17 Dec 2023, 14:40 last edited by
      #346

      If I were to start another aquarium....

      “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill

      1 Reply Last reply
      • J Offline
        J Offline
        jon-nyc
        wrote on 22 Dec 2023, 22:52 last edited by
        #347

        Only non-witches get due process.

        • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
        1 Reply Last reply
        • X Offline
          X Offline
          xenon
          wrote on 22 Dec 2023, 22:58 last edited by
          #348

          That is wild.... and gross.

          1 Reply Last reply
          • D Offline
            D Offline
            Doctor Phibes
            wrote on 23 Dec 2023, 03:09 last edited by
            #349

            We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

            Which leaves us with the conclusion that The Creator is one sick fucking puppy.

            I was only joking

            J 1 Reply Last reply 23 Dec 2023, 06:37
            • D Doctor Phibes
              23 Dec 2023, 03:09

              We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

              Which leaves us with the conclusion that The Creator is one sick fucking puppy.

              J Offline
              J Offline
              jon-nyc
              wrote on 23 Dec 2023, 06:37 last edited by
              #350

              @Doctor-Phibes said in Nature is Metal:

              We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

              Natural selection is anything but random.

              Only non-witches get due process.

              • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
              K 1 Reply Last reply 15 Feb 2024, 08:49
              • topic:timeago-later,2 months
              • T Offline
                T Offline
                taiwan_girl
                wrote on 15 Feb 2024, 01:51 last edited by
                #351

                A lioness and her cubs were enjoying a meal in a tree when a clan of hungry hyenas arrived and surrounded the tree in hopes of a helping of leftovers.

                One of the cubs inexplicably jumped down from the tree—an apparent attempt to flee the scene—and was instantly surrounded by the hyenas and their snapping jaws.

                The mother lion recognized the threat of losing her cub to the hyenas, dropping the impala carcass from the tree and jumping to the ground to confront the hyenas.

                Link to video

                1 Reply Last reply
                • J jon-nyc
                  23 Dec 2023, 06:37

                  @Doctor-Phibes said in Nature is Metal:

                  We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

                  Natural selection is anything but random.

                  K Offline
                  K Offline
                  Klaus
                  wrote on 15 Feb 2024, 08:49 last edited by Klaus
                  #352

                  @jon-nyc said in Nature is Metal:

                  @Doctor-Phibes said in Nature is Metal:

                  We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

                  Natural selection is anything but random.

                  But the generation of variants is, to a degree, random. I think "genetic algorithms", for which randomness is essential and which are inspired by evolution, are a great illustration of how randomness can lead to highly sophisticated structures.

                  Check out this little animation of "ant colony optimization", which is about finding paths (to "food") by basically just walking around randomly, with no central control. It's a very simple but fascinating algorithm:

                  Here's the idea:

                  Ants (initially) wander randomly, and upon finding food return to their colony while laying down pheromone trails. If other ants find such a path, they are likely not to keep travelling at random, but instead to follow the trail, returning and reinforcing it if they eventually find food.

                  Over time, however, the pheromone trail starts to evaporate, thus reducing its attractive strength. The more time it takes for an ant to travel down the path and back again, the more time the pheromones have to evaporate. A short path, by comparison, gets marched over more frequently, and thus the pheromone density becomes higher on shorter paths than longer ones. Pheromone evaporation also has the advantage of avoiding the convergence to a locally optimal solution. If there were no evaporation at all, the paths chosen by the first ants would tend to be excessively attractive to the following ones. In that case, the exploration of the solution space would be constrained. The influence of pheromone evaporation in real ant systems is unclear, but it is very important in artificial systems.

                  The overall result is that when one ant finds a good (i.e., short) path from the colony to a food source, other ants are more likely to follow that path, and positive feedback eventually leads to many ants following a single path

                  Link to video

                  J 1 Reply Last reply 16 Feb 2024, 09:33
                  • H Offline
                    H Offline
                    Horace
                    wrote on 16 Feb 2024, 02:36 last edited by
                    #353

                    Link to video

                    Education is extremely important.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • K Klaus
                      15 Feb 2024, 08:49

                      @jon-nyc said in Nature is Metal:

                      @Doctor-Phibes said in Nature is Metal:

                      We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

                      Natural selection is anything but random.

                      But the generation of variants is, to a degree, random. I think "genetic algorithms", for which randomness is essential and which are inspired by evolution, are a great illustration of how randomness can lead to highly sophisticated structures.

                      Check out this little animation of "ant colony optimization", which is about finding paths (to "food") by basically just walking around randomly, with no central control. It's a very simple but fascinating algorithm:

                      Here's the idea:

                      Ants (initially) wander randomly, and upon finding food return to their colony while laying down pheromone trails. If other ants find such a path, they are likely not to keep travelling at random, but instead to follow the trail, returning and reinforcing it if they eventually find food.

                      Over time, however, the pheromone trail starts to evaporate, thus reducing its attractive strength. The more time it takes for an ant to travel down the path and back again, the more time the pheromones have to evaporate. A short path, by comparison, gets marched over more frequently, and thus the pheromone density becomes higher on shorter paths than longer ones. Pheromone evaporation also has the advantage of avoiding the convergence to a locally optimal solution. If there were no evaporation at all, the paths chosen by the first ants would tend to be excessively attractive to the following ones. In that case, the exploration of the solution space would be constrained. The influence of pheromone evaporation in real ant systems is unclear, but it is very important in artificial systems.

                      The overall result is that when one ant finds a good (i.e., short) path from the colony to a food source, other ants are more likely to follow that path, and positive feedback eventually leads to many ants following a single path

                      Link to video

                      J Offline
                      J Offline
                      jon-nyc
                      wrote on 16 Feb 2024, 09:33 last edited by
                      #354

                      @Klaus said in Nature is Metal:

                      @jon-nyc said in Nature is Metal:

                      @Doctor-Phibes said in Nature is Metal:

                      We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

                      Natural selection is anything but random.

                      But the generation of variants is, to a degree, random. I think "genetic algorithms", for which randomness is essential and which are inspired by evolution, are a great illustration of how randomness can lead to highly sophisticated structures.

                      Ok, but natural selection is downstream from the (epistemically) random process of mutation. Like the reward mechanism of food discovery is downstream from the pseudo-random movement of the ants.

                      Only non-witches get due process.

                      • Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
                      K 1 Reply Last reply 16 Feb 2024, 10:56
                      • J jon-nyc
                        16 Feb 2024, 09:33

                        @Klaus said in Nature is Metal:

                        @jon-nyc said in Nature is Metal:

                        @Doctor-Phibes said in Nature is Metal:

                        We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

                        Natural selection is anything but random.

                        But the generation of variants is, to a degree, random. I think "genetic algorithms", for which randomness is essential and which are inspired by evolution, are a great illustration of how randomness can lead to highly sophisticated structures.

                        Ok, but natural selection is downstream from the (epistemically) random process of mutation. Like the reward mechanism of food discovery is downstream from the pseudo-random movement of the ants.

                        K Offline
                        K Offline
                        Klaus
                        wrote on 16 Feb 2024, 10:56 last edited by
                        #355

                        @jon-nyc said in Nature is Metal:

                        @Klaus said in Nature is Metal:

                        @jon-nyc said in Nature is Metal:

                        @Doctor-Phibes said in Nature is Metal:

                        We have two possibilities - evolution or intelligent design. The hideous grossness of that seems beyond what could reasonably occur by random chance.

                        Natural selection is anything but random.

                        But the generation of variants is, to a degree, random. I think "genetic algorithms", for which randomness is essential and which are inspired by evolution, are a great illustration of how randomness can lead to highly sophisticated structures.

                        Ok, but natural selection is downstream from the (epistemically) random process of mutation. Like the reward mechanism of food discovery is downstream from the pseudo-random movement of the ants.

                        Yes. It's a search algorithm. First you generate variants, then you discard those that are shit.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • topic:timeago-later,26 days
                        • G Offline
                          G Offline
                          George K
                          wrote on 13 Mar 2024, 19:11 last edited by
                          #356

                          The circle of life death:

                          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • topic:timeago-later,about a month
                          • R Offline
                            R Offline
                            Renauda
                            wrote on 14 Apr 2024, 17:35 last edited by Renauda
                            #357

                            Nothing in pond is safe from the invasion from the depths below; Giant Water Lillies!

                            Link to video

                            Elbows up!

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • H Offline
                              H Offline
                              Horace
                              wrote on 14 Apr 2024, 17:45 last edited by
                              #358

                              So water lillies are nature’s version of right wing populist coups. Terrifying.

                              Education is extremely important.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • R Offline
                                R Offline
                                Renauda
                                wrote on 14 Apr 2024, 18:12 last edited by
                                #359

                                If you say so.

                                Elbows up!

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • H Offline
                                  H Offline
                                  Horace
                                  wrote on 17 Apr 2024, 16:49 last edited by
                                  #360

                                  Link to video

                                  Education is extremely important.

                                  M 1 Reply Last reply 1 May 2024, 03:16
                                  • H Offline
                                    H Offline
                                    Horace
                                    wrote on 19 Apr 2024, 13:53 last edited by
                                    #361

                                    Link to video

                                    Education is extremely important.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • G Offline
                                      G Offline
                                      George K
                                      wrote on 21 Apr 2024, 12:27 last edited by
                                      #362

                                      Wow...

                                      "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                      The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

                                      R 1 Reply Last reply 21 Apr 2024, 13:28
                                      • G George K
                                        21 Apr 2024, 12:27

                                        Wow...

                                        R Offline
                                        R Offline
                                        Renauda
                                        wrote on 21 Apr 2024, 13:28 last edited by Renauda
                                        #363

                                        @George-K

                                        I wasn’t aware of that behaviour in zebras. I wonder if it is common to zebras or occurs in other wild equine species?

                                        Elbows up!

                                        G 1 Reply Last reply 21 Apr 2024, 13:29
                                        • R Renauda
                                          21 Apr 2024, 13:28

                                          @George-K

                                          I wasn’t aware of that behaviour in zebras. I wonder if it is common to zebras or occurs in other wild equine species?

                                          G Offline
                                          G Offline
                                          George K
                                          wrote on 21 Apr 2024, 13:29 last edited by
                                          #364

                                          @Renauda said in Nature is Metal:

                                          @George-K

                                          I wasn’t aware of that behaviour in zebras. I wonder if it occurs in other wild equine species?

                                          Yeah, I was shocked. Storks are known to pitch the weakest hatchling out of the nest, but zebras?

                                          "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

                                          The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

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