#primordial slime mold

[deoxyribovoltaic-acid]

SLIME MOLD CONTENT THIS IS WHAT I JOINED THIS SITE FOR

Slime Molds and Intelligence

Okay, despite going into a biology related field, I only just learned about slime molds, and hang on, because it gets WILD.

This guy in the picture is called Physarum polycephalum, one of the more commonly studied types of slime mold. It was originally thought to be a fungus, though we now know it to actually be a type of protist (a sort of catch-all group for any eukaryotic organism that isn't a plant, animal, or a fungus). As protists go, it's pretty smart. It is very good at finding the most efficient way to get to a food source, or multiple food sources. In fact, placing a slime mold on a map with food sources at all of the major cities can give a pretty good idea of an efficient transportation system. Here is a slime mold growing over a map of Tokyo compared to the actual Tokyo railway system:

Pretty good, right? Though they don't have eyes, ears, or noses, the slime molds are able to sense objects at a distance kind of like a spider using tiny differences in tension and vibrations to sense a fly caught in its web. Instead of a spiderweb, though, this organism relies on proteins called TRP channels. The slime mold can then make decisions about where it wants to grow. In one experiment, a slime mold was put in a petri dish with one glass disk on one side and 3 glass disks on the other side. Even though the disks weren't a food source, the slime mold chose to grow towards and investigate the side with 3 disks over 70% of the time.

Even more impressive is that these organisms have some sense of time. If you blow cold air on them every hour on the hour, they'll start to shrink away in anticipation when before the air hits after only 3 hours.

Now, I hear you say, this is cool and all, but like, I can do all those things too. The slime mold isn't special...

To which I would like to point out that you have a significant advantage over the slime mold, seeing as you have a brain.

Yeah, these protists can accomplish all of the things I just talked about, and they just... don't have any sort of neural architecture whatsoever? They don't even have brain cells, let alone the structures that should allow them to process sensory information and make decisions because of it. Nothing that should give them a sense of time. Scientists literally have no idea how this thing is able to "think'. But however it does, it is sure to be a form of cognition that is completely and utterly different from anything that we're familiar with.

[betaot4]

Thinking about those primordial slime molds that replicated the layout of the railway systems when spawned from a miniature map of japanese cities made from oats

[photosbykat]

[a-weird-writer]

UMMM CUTE NOIR SMOOCH HEADCANONS PLEASE.

Kissing Diablo (Noir)

That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

Diablo's kisses are never the same; unpredictable, going all over the place. Surprising, endearing; a devious call to your heart. Every impact as sinful as the last. One second, your bones chill, rattling like maracas, intimidated by his demonic mouth. The next, they cook you alive. Soul baking, ablaze by hellfire. Diablo's kiss is like his aura, his deepest self, his very core; cold, calculating and eager to overcome. Sizzling coals pop and crackle on your skin in their wake, tortuous. Nerves throb in hunger, restraint minimal. His lips silk-touched, tentative, invisible clouds flowing on your knuckles. Droplets fall, mouths locked, dip dip dip. Slipped tongue smooth as butter, raining heretic praise in each subtle taste of sweet flesh. Diablo is ghostly, a mysterious transparent shadow. A miserable memory; Haunting you for his sick pleasure and cruelty. Determined to learn your secrets, Hell will freeze over if it means finding every single one. When Diablo goes to snatch the free air between your open lips, he pushes you right where he wants you. Straight into his hands. Entrapped. Your offered submission accepted shamelessly, Diablo's sacrifice; second thoughts nonexistent, nothing spared in his way. Your awaiting mouth is found in no time, caught on his fishing line. Diablo fits perfectly, the last piece of a puzzle you've been solving since you first saw his dark shadow. Takes time to know you, how and why; his mouth molds against you, merging. An explorer drawing out a treasure map, highlighting directions with a compass. Diablo's eyes golden revealing, studying your reactions in ripe attention. Lips amenably feather-like when he dives in for the kill in the shape of your maw. Shark-like fangs clean, ready for a massacre worthy of a god; teeth long and venomous, designed to rip out the stubborn hearts of fearless warriors. Burns an unforgettable tang, befitting an original primordial demon of Hell.

Kisses you in wonder. Whispers sugary promises, littering upon your interlocking tongues. Dancing on each other like stripper poles, pleasurable, pleasing. Inquisitiveness in his devilish flavor, drizzling a strange gentleness originally thought impossible for demons of dark caliber. Layered fascination; Sugary, sadistic glee in cornering his prey. Diablo willfully loses himself, a demon eating the temptation, indulging sin; your sin is especially tasty, a one-of-a-kind dish served. His hands flutter lightly against your skin as his dark curtain deepens. Lashes flirty, perfect. Thumb rubbing circles on your reddened cheek, desire conquering your spirit. His fingers dare trespass further, the ocean harbor closing in on your eager bodies. Tracing your frame, scorching you to muscle memory. Nails hover like tiny floating petals, forbidden touch gracing you. He devours you with a fork and spoon, a gentleman knows no other way to savor his feast, your fragile insides savored. His kiss wants more and more, your pent-up wishes on your visible sleeve, greed swelling in your core. Evil lips so cool, but his tongue an endless flame. Peeling back any trace of innocence left to follow you along the path of damnation. Warming your throat and twirling deep downward in your chimney, tone knife sharp. Drinking the sinful smoke erupting, pure nicotine, pouring from your esophagus. Quiet, determined to grow. Heavy mist, not dry but so wet in longing desire. Diablo is a unique specimen of demonic, this demon needs air not for breath, but for the space and freedom it provides. But he's lies through his teeth if he didn't treasure your shared kisses. A tender kiss you sealed, and the touch he caged you in, to keep for all eternity.

[aorish]

Born too late to be part of the primordial soup, born too early to transfer my consciousness to an immortal slime mold.

[krystal-prisms]

If you send unsolicited dick pics or other nudes, here is a list of things that I respect more than you <3

A primordial slime mold

An empty snail shell

The leftovers sitting in the back of the fridge for a month

The hairball my cat coughed up last night

The crusty, dried up gray nail polish that hasn't been used in so long it's completely solid

The bag of trash in the back of my car

The band the Tramp Stamps

Literal dog shit

The rabies virus

The Karen haircut

The spider corpse at the bottom of my stairs

Everyone else in the world who has not sent an unsolicited nude

If you do this, you should be ashamed of yourself <3

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I realized something, I think we’re incapable of imagining truly extraterrestrial biology.  When someone designs a creature for a movie or TV show or a comic, it’s almost always based on some aspect of Earth life.  Even the most alien designs (pun intended) usually draw influence from things that exist right here; cephalopods and molluscs and crustaceans.  I’m not saying designers lack imagination, far from it, they’re some of the most imaginative people I’ve ever encountered, I’m just saying that most designs I’ve seen have been grounded in shapes the audience is probably familiar with.

The Xenomorph is humanoid and kinda buggy; the Predator is humanoid and had crab-like mandibles; the aliens from District 9 are literally prawns; the heptapods from Arrival are just octopi, same with the thermians from Galaxy Quest; the angels from A Quiet Place are bizarre but have recognizable heads and mouths and limbs; the thing from The Thing is amorphous but even it’s most “gooey” forms have stuff like hands and teeth and tentacles.

These creatures are better for being partially recognizable, they’re easier to read and much more iconic, so I wouldn’t have Hollywood do it any other way.  My point is that if we ever do make contact with a real alien life form, it will be so different from anything that evolved on Earth that we wouldn’t immediately recognize it as being alive.

When I even try to imagine something no of this Earth, my mind still wanders back to life as I know it.  My first thought was some sort of sentient fungi, but fungi exist on Earth.  Primordial early life seems pretty alien, in comparison to the modern day, but you can still tell what their descendants are; the earliest known predatory animal, the anomalocaris, is just a big shrimp.  Trilobites are horseshoe crab looking arthropods.  Sponges, slime molds, jellyfish and man-o-wars, coral, worms, larvae, even things as “simple” as bacteria.  I can’t actually imagine something truly alien.

Would life on another planet look anything like Earth life?  Probably not.  Conditions and resources and environmental niches would be so different that any “life” that developed would be unlike anything that has ever existed on Earth in the last four billion years.

[glopratchet]

desert

Desert raw decaying environment Desert incomplete contrasting petroglyphs Desert nihilistic shearing shotguns I don't know what you mean by "complete" Desert sunburned and bleeding from the eyes Desert with a desert accent Desert poorer decaying conduit Desert complete contrast Desert complete wasteland Desert complete contrasts Desert survival grousing cloud Desert complete besides from plume Desert complete attitude fed by siren Promethia Desert pyramid-shaped rattlesnaking peacemakers Possibly are powered by Maybe powered by No probably Also definitely dormant when not used for true purposes Desert putrid threat insight Desert obscure gabbling Desert incomplete cooking abominations Desert in specific is a type of regressed order activity within as well consequently of the Desert whines down and out across dying sunset's ember Soap brighter reddening doom's purple horizon over crumbling flat picking scream-flowers Soap and purity thriving off death Desert warring rival cutthroat tombs Soap brighter reddening doom's purple horizon over crumbling flat picking scream-flowers Faraday poorest roaring est dustbowls Horizon promising starved deceases Wasteland mother swallowing darkest night Soil pounding dying ember Faraday poorest roaringest dustbowls Survival withering closing ember Sight desperate closing dying ember Sound angry ready closing failing ember Mind danger closing blackening ember Survival withering closing ember Soap incomplete sulking sullen childhood forgotten in the closets of life Time fool shivering sulking the table for another chance at youth Soap incomplete sulking sullen childhood forgotten in the closets of life Towers horrible sulking falling into native forgetfulness Dawn distant sulking ember in the mountainside Towers horrible sulking falling into native forgetfulness Firearms rough humming sulking from lack of use Guns rusted sulking piled in a forgotten warehouse, rusting Firearms rough humming sulking from lack of use Towers blonde souring sullen rotting in the sun Slaughterhouses lazy groaning sullen rotting surrounded by death Towers blonde souring sullen rotting in the sun Soap wistful crawling listless walking dead Desert decaying closing sulking with one foot in the grave Decay worse burying sulking in the darkness Soap wistful crawling listless walking dead Soap dirty suffocating sulking lost in the abyss Soap unhappy suffocating sulking behind crumbling rotting walls, filthy Soap dirty suffocating sulking lost in the abyss Maze-going grave lacerating sulking in the darkness Desert chewed self-fellating rotten-toothed and gutted Maze-going grave lacerating sulking in the darkness Towers luminous soldiering suiciding into the darkness Flame sick infecting sacred dwellings Death wind secretly infecting family homes Towers luminous soldiering suiciding into the darkness Sodbusters obsessive white-slaving desert trader Necks tortured clinking desert nomads Desert addicted screeching like an animal trap Sodbusters obsessive white-slaving desert trader Maze-going stubborn suffocating dust bowl emigrants leaping from blazing desert ziggurats Maze-going stubborn suffocating dust bowl emigrants leaping from blazing desert ziggurats Pyramid rigid gawking desert explorers wrinkling and browning like flowers Cliffs beautiful prowling desert gargoyles stalking the world e weakening fleeing soft hermits and snakes creeping out of their native grottoes e weakening fleeing soft hermits and snakes creeping out of their native grottoes Soap concrete humming desert factories whistling while they work Bones splendid smoking desert smoke factories belching and puffing out their tainted clouds Soap concrete humming desert factories whistling while they work Soap cadaverous console log; ("title " title ); Wizened magical severely coughing black factory machines Standing standing on feet and killing forests without blinking an eye Soap distinct whitening desert mountain bears hibernating to death Rocks headstrong shaking temple-praying desert monks wasting away from lack of food Soap distinct whitening desert mountain bears hibernating to death Sodbusters blonde cycling desert bicycles breaking their legs Wispy dry cracking desert dustbowl blankets even out lives, be in blocks, daubs Sodbusters blonde cycling desert bicycles breaking their legs Soap gaunt decaying desert caravans eroding and toppling over Towers cerulean flooding desert voyagers weakening out at open sea Soap gaunt decaying desert caravans eroding and toppling over Faraday obscure standing desert islands disappearing over the horizon Maze-going blue-blooded biting desert hares yawning and stretching in long grass Faraday obscure standing desert islands disappearing over the horizon Towers wistful exploding ember rainbows vomiting out useless treasures Soap regrettable flash flooding-sinking desert islands drowning without trace Towers wistful exploding ember rainbows vomiting out useless treasures Pyramid grainy scrambling desert silver and gold mountain goats tumbling onto castle streets Desert terrible crawling upside-down crimson mountains scratching at palace windows Pyramid grainy scrambling desert silver and gold mountain goats tumbling onto castle streets Soap blended burning Bone horrid cyring desert wretches starving herself to death Soap blended burning suiciding into the darkness Sodbusters poorest spilling your intestines in dustbowls Sodbusters poorest spilling your intestines in dustbowls Firearms blonde screaming desert sun shining through limbs, heat pouring off your skin Flame rusted decaying desert flash floods jamming up and rusting solid Firearms blonde screaming desert sun shining through limbs, Towers foreign damning desert poverty hot as hell and not enough food to go around Acid pearly snorting desert sheep shovelling piles of white chemical powder Towers foreign damning desert poverty hot as hell and not enough food to go around Faraday distinct scrambling desert wounds festering and crackling with blue lightning Desert empty setting fire desert wolves howling at the moon Faraday distinct scrambling desert wounds festering and crackling with blue lightning Pyramid luminous swirling dustbowls jamming up and scraping against bone grinding on sand Electricity colourful hissing desert hares yawning on yellow power cables Pyramid luminous swirling dustbowls jamming up and scraping against bone grinding on sand Soap umber slogging desert salt water sizzling in an endless void Wispy decaying desert age weighting down draped robes Soap terrible scrambling desert sickness running away out at sea Sand vibrant morphing desert slime mold pulsating through a maze Soap terrible scrambling desert sickness running away out at sea Firearms sour straining desert poverty climbing like a fly Desert dry licking desert royalty nightgown flapping softly in the breeze Firearms sour straining desert poverty climbing like a fly Pyramid stagnant ululating desert sheep herding litters of five across the dunes Pyramid stagnant ululating desert sheep herding litters of five across the dunes Pyramid remote bleeding desert moonlight splinters stabbing inside your chest Soap transparent whipping desert cataracts blind and dazed, fumbling for healing Pyramid remote bleeding desert moonlight splinters stabbing inside your chest Towers pale humming desert sheep bleating loudly through a haze of flies Chips flaking blistering desert hysteria puking and crapping his pants Low-life darkening desert silver and gold mountains sweating buckets of dirty salty water Towers pale humming desert sheep bleating loudly through a haze of flies Towers gaunt damning desert poverty waving your arms in vain at the shadowy spectre chasing you Soap trembling liquefying desert sheep balancing chopsticks on his nose Towers gaunt damning desert poverty waving your arms in vain at the shadowy spectre chasing you Sodbusters loose white-slaving desert journals are half photographs and half nonsense verse Sodbusters loose white-slaving desert journals are half photographs and half nonsense verse Pyramid blended groaning desert sand are cascades of parching fire and hellish, barren, treeless land Pyramid blended groaning desert sand are cascades of parching fire and hellish, Firearms molten suffocating desert volcanoes shattered with dynamite Towers fibrous mourning desert sunsets advancing through the fog, through endless golden sheets of it Soap horrible lowering Firearms molten suffocating desert volcanoes shattered with dynamite desert monkeys sprearheading the brutal military junta Firearms sickly crashing desert hares glaring out from under his hood with sunken glowing eyes Soap horrible lowering desert monkeys sprearheading the brutal military junta Subterranean exploding ursine desert legions blind and barraging the sky with wild surmise Subterranean exploding ursine desert legions blind and barraging the sky with wild surmise Faraday pyramid-shaped clinging desert worlds wheel upon an invisible axis Faraday pyramid-shaped clinging desert worlds wheel upon an invisible axis Towers shrunken lacerating desert storms battering helpless babies against rock walls Acid primordial looming desert dream demons scanning you for shadows of guilt Towers shrunken lacerating desert storms battering helpless babies against rock walls Arabic khaki roaming desert generations die cursing and spitting into endless wind Arabic khaki roaming desert generations die cursing and spitting into endless wind Soap blonde scrambling desert harbinger of the apocalypse Chips platinum dying desert children laugh as you choke on dust Soap blonde scrambling desert harbinger of the apocalypse Soap grainy wailing desert corpses stare down sightlessly from police file photographs fuzzily printed on gritty paper Soap grainy wailing desert corpses stare down sightlessly from police file photographs fuzzily printed on gritty paper Sodbusters blonde hollering desert sunsets in piles of adobe skulls and rusted farm implements Sodbusters blonde hollering desert sunsets in piles of adobe skulls and rusted farm implements Faraday raw vaporizing desert Towers skeletal dustbowl desert abandonment, where misanthropes wail in silence and starve among the coyotes, jackals and vultures Faraday raw vaporizing desert Firearms remote evening desert dreams are oceans of regret Chips black bustling desert sandstorms kick up tiny frizzy hairs and lash them against your face Firearms remote evening desert dreams are oceans of regret Firearms flaming hallucinating desert demons cackle and howl at the waves of heat rising from the sunbaked sand Firearms flaming hallucinating desert demons cackle and howl at the waves of heat rising from the sunbaked sand Arabic raw splintering desert poverty glued in streams of tears to your pinched face Arabic raw splintering desert poverty glued in streams of tears to your pinched face Arabic stagnant weakening desert dreams drown themselves in seas of tears and regret Arabic stagnant weakening desert dreams drown themselves in seas of tears and regret Faraday awful souring desert wasting dunes are sterile, worm-eaten, and fall to pieces with a light touch Faraday awful souring desert wasting dunes are sterile, Inflammatory grazing swelling desert sores shrinking into the distance Sodbusters camouflaging desert dreams are artillery volleys shattering the sky into a million brilliant pieces Inflammatory grazing swelling desert sores shrinking into the distance Sodbusters survival spilling desert birds explode onto deserts of red hot sand Acid ramshackle sweeping desert hares shake and shiver under the beating sun Sodbusters survival spilling desert birds explode onto deserts of red hot sand Arabic lost souring desert that plague of locusts Towers vertical moldering desert waterholes evaporate in skies of furnace heat Arabic lost souring desert that plague of locusts Firearms inflammatory disintegrating desert exhaustion flares up into skies of parched red heat Chips quiet filing desert horizons explode into insect-laden buzzsaws of blue Firearms inflammatory disintegrating desert exhaustion flares up into skies of parched red heat Firearms loose scuffling desert nightmares spark flash floods of neon vomit from a sea of sewage Firearms bored shooting desert demons melting under the ghastly black meteor, blazing almost to the Firearms loose scuffling desert nightmares spark flash floods of neon vomit from a sea of sewage Soap survival pealing desert sunsets and sandstorms Firearms spray smashing desert nightmares drown in the mocking steel-hard blue Soap survival pealing desert sunsets and sandstorms Grave surviving sun-baked desert veins of phosphorescent quartz glittering in dust like diamonds Grave surviving sun-baked desert veins of phosphorescent quartz glittering in dust like diamonds Soap orange clinging desert nightmares explode in a shower of baked matches Soap orange clinging desert nightmares explode in a shower of baked matches Towers loose stagnant desert sores merging into a mess of putrid shapes and color Sodbusters massing desert sunsets etch the world in shades of purple heat Towers loose stagnant desert sores merging into a mess of putrid shapes and color Soap stubborn warming desert flesh scabs flaking off like a dried bass swiveling atop malignant boulders Soap stubborn warming desert flesh scabs flaking off like a dried bass swiveling atop malignant boulders Horrible kicking pathetic desert mirages that melt your frigid mind into five gallons of treacherous quicksand Horrible kicking pathetic desert mirages that melt your frigid mind into five gallons of treacherous quicksand Sodbusters cruel reckoning desert leeches feasting upon the blood of children baking under pitiless Soap crumbling soft desert dreams choking and gasping in the decay of chewing tobacco Sodbusters cruel reckoning desert leeches feasting upon the blood of children baking under pitiless Faraday austere bristling desert vipers slither under vicious neon clouds of lilac and ultraviolet Faraday austere bristling desert vipers slither under vicious neon clouds of lilac and ultraviolet Towers biblical screaming desert wolves scattered shifting and hunting under the ridiculed alabaster moon Towers biblical screaming desert wolves scattered shifting and hunting under the ridiculed alabaster moon Eerie evening desert snakeskin disintegrates into hills of bitter honey Eerie evening desert snakeskin disintegrates into hills of bitter honey Soap predatory aggravating desert pets magnified millions of times and shaken like a blur until they snap Soap predatory aggravating desert pets magnified millions of times and shaken like a blur until they snap Pyramid cruel fuming desert exhaustion shuddering towards the mirages of oases and cities of gold Pyramid cruel fuming desert exhaustion shuddering towards the mirages of oases and cities of gold Sodbusters horrid warming desert decay shivering in sheets of winding hard linen Sodbusters horrid warming desert decay shivering in sheets of winding hard linen Faraday wrinkled sinking desert splendor under vaulted cathedrals of cobalt blue and violet Faraday wrinkled sinking desert splendor under vaulted cathedrals of cobalt blue and violet Stubborn evening desert waste fluoresces lurid shades of poison green Horrible harmless tribal desert nightmares buried under crunching sheets of dead beetles Stubborn evening desert waste fluoresces lurid shades of poison green Soap flaming grousing desert decay swelling with vats of scum-covered molten copper Soap flaming grousing desert decay swelling with vats of scum-covered molten copper Soap remote corroding desert dreams collapsing into the blighted rubble of broken champagne bottles and charred eight tracks Soap remote corroding desert dreams collapsing into the blighted rubble of broken champagne bottles and charred eight tracks Soap subterranean evading desert parched cracked earth buckling into amphitheatre of howling wind and gruesome thorns Soap subterranean evading desert parched cracked earth buckling into amphitheatre of howling wind and gruesome thorns Soap nastiest necropolizing desert decay twisting into twirling dances of pink and red blush on the cheeks of yours truly Soap nastiest necropolizing desert decay twisting into twirling dances of pink and red blush on the cheeks of yours truly Sodbusters sod it all Fossilized underground desert volcanoes burp from goiters the size of cities

[mtgbracket]

Round of 8192 - Batch 63

You can now vote in Batch 63!

Currently open batches:

Batch 63 Batch 62 Batch 61 Batch 60 Batch 59 Batch 58 Batch 57

Batch 56 results will be up shortly.

Feature match: No-joke stompy Aura Armadillo Cloak takes on the mother of dragons, Dragon Broodmother.

Full list of matchups:

Fire-Belly Changeling vs Unstable Obelisk Paupers' Cage vs Chromatic Star Rubblehulk vs Descendants' Path Armadillo Cloak vs Dragon Broodmother Absorb vs Tower of the Magistrate Root Maze vs Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Diabolic Tutor vs Aven Surveyor Ogre Jailbreaker vs Sagu Mauler Trade Secrets vs Sharding Sphinx Vault Skirge vs Terrarion Vulshok Battlemaster vs Snake Basket Fated Conflagration vs Dragon Arch Elder Land Wurm vs Scornful Egotist Treva, the Renewer vs Keldon Warlord Oath of Lieges vs Viashino Bladescout Orzhov Guildmage vs Icy Manipulator Mirri, Cat Warrior vs Slime Molding Undo vs Damnable Pact Gigantiform vs Ice Cage Bring Low vs Phyrexian Ingester Masterwork of Ingenuity vs Knight of Sursi Mardu Roughrider vs Soulquake Returned Phalanx vs Font of Mythos Glint-Eye Nephilim vs Synthetic Destiny Zephyr Charge vs City of Ass Daxos the Returned vs Windreader Sphinx Synod Sanctum vs Jungle Wurm Notorious Throng vs Beacon of Tomorrows Myr Servitor vs Once More with Feeling No Quarter vs Oppressive Will Near-Death Experience vs Trench Gorger Primordial Sage vs Seshiro the Anointed

[ogxref]

ON SLIME MOLD & SPATIAL MEMORY / Elvia Wilk

Early 2000s: Toshiyuki Nakagaki placed a few cells of Physarum into a labyrinth with flakes of oatmeal at two ends. The slime quickly foraged the most efficient path between both food sources, finding the shortest route between two points (a job for which humans typically need equations or computational aids)

Nakagaki then tried arranging the oats into an approximation of the geography of Tokyo and surrounding cities; the slime carefully extended itself across the oat-map into a shape remarkably similar to the existing railway network. In fact, unaffected by human bias and politics, Nakagaki says the slime actually may have improved upon the design of the railway system.

What can we learn from a primordial organism about de-centralized cooperation, material problem-solving, and the limits of consciousness?

Contemporary theories of intelligence almost universally rely on the “information processing” metaphor, that is, the idea that the intelligent brain processes data through computational actions like storage, transfer, and retrieval—though this is probably nothing like what brains really do.

Computational intelligence as a metaphor for all intelligence is a historically specific construction, just like theories of mind throughout history, which tend to mirror the most advanced technologies of the time—at various times the brain has been described as a hydraulic system, an electrical circuit, and a set of chemical reactions

Physarum’s spatial memory works not by internal representation, but rather by a physical marking of the very space that is being remembered. If a seemingly simple organism can solve spatial problems through movement, artificial intelligence could conceivably do the same.

Like robotics, infrastructure design has begun to learn from the notion of decentralized, environmentally specific intelligence. Keller Easterling describes the evolution of massive worldwide infrastructure systems: “When the object of design is not an object form or master plan but a set of instructions for an interplay between variables, design acquires some of the power and currency of software. It is an ‘abstract machine’ generative of a ‘real that is yet to come.’

[shukaev]

CRAWLER | cicada screen test from Michael Pisano on Vimeo.

Rough compositing tests for animation components in CRAWLER, my current personal project. The throbbing yellow stuff is timelapse footage of the slime mold physarum polycephalum cultured onto a dead cicada.

CRAWLER is a webcomic with embedded games and animations. It's about prehistoric gods trying to turn the earth back into primordial soup, and it partly takes place in a fungus dungeon.

Trailer coming soon. Visit hauntedmeat.com/crawler for more info, and find me @hauntedmeat on instagram for more slimelapses and more frequent CRAWLER updates.

soundtrack by DJ Thermos | facebook.com/DjThermos

[mtgbracket]

Round of 8192 - Batch 63 results

640 Bracketeers voted in Batch 63, and 9.76m votes have now been cast.

Visual results are here and today’s results are:

Sagu Mauler defeats Ogre Jailbreaker with 87.14% of the vote Phyrexian Ingester defeats Bring Low with 87.02% of the vote Chromatic Star defeats Paupers' Cage with 84.38% of the vote Mirri, Cat Warrior defeats Slime Molding with 81.69% of the vote

Masterwork of Ingenuity defeats Knight of Sursi with 79.35% of the vote Font of Mythos defeats Returned Phalanx with 79.13% of the vote Icy Manipulator defeats Orzhov Guildmage with 78.61% of the vote Diabolic Tutor defeats Aven Surveyor with 78.34% of the vote

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant defeats Root Maze with 78.02% of the vote Vault Skirge defeats Terrarion with 77.78% of the vote Unstable Obelisk defeats Fire-Belly Changeling with 75.59% of the vote Scornful Egotist defeats Elder Land Wurm with 72.64% of the vote

Near-Death Experience defeats Trench Gorger with 71.94% of the vote Descendants' Path defeats Rubblehulk with 71.45% of the vote Gigantiform defeats Ice Cage with 70.11% of the vote Synod Sanctum defeats Jungle Wurm with 69.89% of the vote

Absorb defeats Tower of the Magistrate with 68.94% of the vote Treva, the Renewer defeats Keldon Warlord with 67.09% of the vote Soulquake defeats Mardu Roughrider with 66.77% of the vote Damnable Pact defeats Undo with 66.56% of the vote

Myr Servitor defeats Once More with Feeling with 64.58% of the vote Beacon of Tomorrows defeats Notorious Throng with 60.52% of the vote Oath of Lieges defeats Viashino Bladescout with 60.42% of the vote Armadillo Cloak defeats Dragon Broodmother with 60.41% of the vote

Daxos the Returned defeats Windreader Sphinx with 60.00% of the vote Glint-Eye Nephilim defeats Synthetic Destiny with 60.00% of the vote No Quarter defeats Oppressive Will with 59.42% of the vote City of Ass defeats Zephyr Charge with 57.35% of the vote

Vulshok Battlemaster defeats Snake Basket with 55.57% of the vote Sharding Sphinx defeats Trade Secrets with 54.24% of the vote Dragon Arch defeats Fated Conflagration with 52.08% of the vote Seshiro the Anointed defeats Primordial Sage with 50.81% of the vote

Full results to date can be seen here.

[shukaev]

CRAWLER | Slimelapses from Michael Pisano on Vimeo.

Timelapses of the slime mold physarum polycephalum cultured onto found and sculpted objects. I'll be using these as animation components in CRAWLER, my current personal project.

CRAWLER is a webcomic with embedded games and animations. It's about prehistoric gods trying to turn the earth back into primordial soup, and it partly takes place in a fungus dungeon.

Episode 1 coming soon. Visit hauntedmeat.com/crawler for more info, and find me @hauntedmeat on instagram for more slimelapses and more frequent CRAWLER updates.

soundtrack by DJ Thermos | facebook.com/DjThermos skeleton 3D prints by Brian Richardson | mythicarticulations.com/ crystal candle by FRSC | etsy.com/shop/ForRealSurrealClub