Comments on: You are being watched http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas. Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:47:40 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Ahmed http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/comment-page-1/#comment-72923 Ahmed Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:57:20 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/#comment-72923 *cough* Alright, so I usually find whatever I write Friday night to be great reading for the next day, entertainment-wise, and this is a prime case. Sorry for the overuse of parentheses folks, I hail from the world of computation (comp sci) after all. We lurrrve the little curved brackets. -A *cough*

Alright, so I usually find whatever I write Friday night to be great reading for the next day, entertainment-wise, and this is a prime case. Sorry for the overuse of parentheses folks, I hail from the world of computation (comp sci) after all. We lurrrve the little curved brackets.

-A

]]> By: Ahmed http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/comment-page-1/#comment-72895 Ahmed Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:59:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/#comment-72895 Ok, so that stuff about the rock ants was just plain astonishing. The tree behavior was simple enough to think about in terms of evolutionary change, but the evolutionary psychology of insects (100 000 neurons is not bad) gives me a bad case of wow. Think about it.. how did it happen? They must have evolved the random laying down of scent trails (impulse to walk randomly and secrete stuff) at some point close to the time when the other mutation happened, otherwise it would be a disadvantage due to the waste of energy involved. A few of them then did this 'recording' business (another mutated behavioral quirk, probably a series of quirks) and finally there came the counting. It could have happened in a different order (a group liked to count things based on a release of positive enzymes when the counting business occurred, then the counting developed into length estimation..etc). It's still fascinating whatever the order was, especially as this behavior occurs in ants that need it (rock ants), which is independent of the events. I am trying to imagine how I could write an genetic algorithm that would produce a code snippet to do this (in a high level computing language, or just psuedocode).. it's pretty effing hard. In fact I have never thought about calculating volume this way, and I have been doing all sorts of math (including creative stuff) since the age of about 4. I'm going to look it up on wikipedia after this. And that's just one tiny little thing these ants have evolved in that puny little brain. One thing. One group of decisions from the thousands they make every day. There are a lot of shocking things in nature, but sometimes one needs to sit back and marvel a little bit at how lucky we are to comprehend all this. You provided a paragraph of text that described something fascinating (and very very unlikely) inside the brain of an ant, and I sat here and tried to reflect with you about it. Incredible. Thanks for the post! I need to to read this blog more often. -A Ok, so that stuff about the rock ants was just plain astonishing. The tree behavior was simple enough to think about in terms of evolutionary change, but the evolutionary psychology of insects (100 000 neurons is not bad) gives me a bad case of wow.

Think about it.. how did it happen? They must have evolved the random laying down of scent trails (impulse to walk randomly and secrete stuff) at some point close to the time when the other mutation happened, otherwise it would be a disadvantage due to the waste of energy involved. A few of them then did this ‘recording’ business (another mutated behavioral quirk, probably a series of quirks) and finally there came the counting. It could have happened in a different order (a group liked to count things based on a release of positive enzymes when the counting business occurred, then the counting developed into length estimation..etc). It’s still fascinating whatever the order was, especially as this behavior occurs in ants that need it (rock ants), which is independent of the events.

I am trying to imagine how I could write an genetic algorithm that would produce a code snippet to do this (in a high level computing language, or just psuedocode).. it’s pretty effing hard. In fact I have never thought about calculating volume this way, and I have been doing all sorts of math (including creative stuff) since the age of about 4. I’m going to look it up on wikipedia after this. And that’s just one tiny little thing these ants have evolved in that puny little brain. One thing. One group of decisions from the thousands they make every day.

There are a lot of shocking things in nature, but sometimes one needs to sit back and marvel a little bit at how lucky we are to comprehend all this. You provided a paragraph of text that described something fascinating (and very very unlikely) inside the brain of an ant, and I sat here and tried to reflect with you about it.

Incredible.

Thanks for the post! I need to to read this blog more often.

-A

]]> By: Cobez http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/comment-page-1/#comment-72792 Cobez Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:24:57 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/#comment-72792 Near my house is a section of redwoods. As you know, redwoods grow vertically and tall. A few oak trees have developed near these, and these oaks contrast ones not under the redwoods in that they too have grown vertically strait and have reached impressive heights, with wider, thinner leaves as stated. No doubt these oaks have "intelligence" capabilities as described. Once again, nature impresses me. Near my house is a section of redwoods. As you know, redwoods grow vertically and tall. A few oak trees have developed near these, and these oaks contrast ones not under the redwoods in that they too have grown vertically strait and have reached impressive heights, with wider, thinner leaves as stated. No doubt these oaks have “intelligence” capabilities as described. Once again, nature impresses me.

]]> By: JR Minkel http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/comment-page-1/#comment-72768 JR Minkel Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:31:59 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/#comment-72768 The Times has been linking to scientific papers for a while now. Check their 2006 story on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/science/17heavy.html" rel="nofollow">element 118</a>. It inspired me to try it for a few articles I wrote on Sciam.com but the habit didn't stick. Not sure but I think Wired Science or Ars Technica might link to the research articles. The Times has been linking to scientific papers for a while now. Check their 2006 story on element 118. It inspired me to try it for a few articles I wrote on Sciam.com but the habit didn’t stick. Not sure but I think Wired Science or Ars Technica might link to the research articles.

]]> By: daniel http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/comment-page-1/#comment-72614 daniel Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:05:56 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/#comment-72614 Ross, I totally agree. This is actually one of the first times I've seen a paper directly linked off of a news article, which is why I remarked upon it. Many times there's a press release, and not only is there no peer-reviewed paper, but there isn't even a preprint. It's just people talking. The journalists should always confirm that there is at least some substance behind the claims. And it's very convenient to have the material linked in this way. One could argue that it should be a requirement that science articles always have links to supporting material. Perhaps all articles should? Ross, I totally agree. This is actually one of the first times I’ve seen a paper directly linked off of a news article, which is why I remarked upon it. Many times there’s a press release, and not only is there no peer-reviewed paper, but there isn’t even a preprint. It’s just people talking. The journalists should always confirm that there is at least some substance behind the claims. And it’s very convenient to have the material linked in this way. One could argue that it should be a requirement that science articles always have links to supporting material. Perhaps all articles should?

]]> By: Ross http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/comment-page-1/#comment-72613 Ross Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:53:54 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2009/04/22/you-are-being-watched/#comment-72613 Although the average reader probably shouldn't be expected to follow an original scientific article, I think the New York Times should be commended for linking to a preprint. A link can be easily ignored by those who can't or don't want to read the paper, gives context for those who can and do, and, most importantly, makes it easier for experts (like you!) to comment on the article. Scientific journalism would be for the better if every article linked to the paper it reported on. Although the average reader probably shouldn’t be expected to follow an original scientific article, I think the New York Times should be commended for linking to a preprint. A link can be easily ignored by those who can’t or don’t want to read the paper, gives context for those who can and do, and, most importantly, makes it easier for experts (like you!) to comment on the article. Scientific journalism would be for the better if every article linked to the paper it reported on.

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