Internal environment Biological term for the interstitial fluid of multicellular organisms Etymology[edit] Claude Bernard used the French phrase milieu intérieur (internal environment in English) in several works from 1854 until his death in 1878. He most likely adopted it from the histologist Charles Robin, who had employed the phrase "milieu de l’intérieur" as a synonym for the ancient hippocratic idea of humors. The fixity of the milieu supposes a perfection of the organism such that the external variations are at each instant compensated for and equilibrated.... Bernard's work regarding the internal environment of regulation was supported by work in Germany at the same time. History[edit] Cannon, in contrast to Bernard, saw the self-regulation of the body as a requirement for the evolutionary emergence and exercise of intelligence, and further placed the idea in a political context: "What corresponds in a nation to the internal environment of the body? Early reception[edit] Work by Szent-Györgyi[edit]
Metaman Book by Gregory Stock While many people have had ideas about a global brain, they have tended to suppose that this can be improved or altered by humans according to their will. Metaman can be seen as a development that directs humanity's will to its own ends, whether it likes it or not, through the operation of market forces. While it is difficult to think of making a life-form based on metals that can mine its own 'food', it is possible to imagine a superorganism that incorporates humans as its "cells" and entices them to sustain it (communalness), just as our cells interwork to sustain us. Metadesign Metadesign (or meta-design) is an emerging conceptual framework aimed at defining and creating social, economic and technical infrastructures in which new forms of collaborative design can take place. It consists of a series of practical design-related tools for achieving this. As a methodology, its aim is to nurture emergence of the previously unthinkable as possibilities or prospects through the collaboration of designers within interdisciplinarity 'metadesign' teams. Inspired by the way living systems work, this new field aims to help improve the way we feed, clothe, shelter, assemble, communicate and live together. Team members working in a metadesign workshop organized by researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London (2008) [edit] In order to address the impending ecological catastrophe it will be vital to change the average person’s mindset and behaviour. Metadesign researchers map the positions of their team mates in order to synergise their relations (2008) History[edit] [edit]
Patterns of self-organization in ants Ants around a drop of honey Ants are simple animals and their behavioural repertory is limited to somewhere between ten and forty elementary behaviours. This is an attempt to explain the different patterns of self-organization in ants.[1] Ants as Complex Systems[edit] Ant colonies are self-organized systems: complex collective behaviors arise as the product of interactions between many individuals each following a simple set of rules, not via top-down instruction from elite individuals or the queen. The most popular current model of self-organization in ants and other social insects is the response threshold model. Bifurcation[edit] This is an instant transition of the whole system to a new stable pattern when a threshold is reached. Examples of pattern types: Transition between disordered and ordered patternTransition from an even use of many food sources to one source.Formation of branched nest galleries.Group preference of one exit by escaping ants.Chain formation of mutual leg grasping.
National Technological Initiative The National Technological Initiative (NTI) (Russian: Национальная технологическая инициатива (НТИ)) is a 2014 program created by Vladimir Putin with the purpose of creating Russian global technical leadership in Russia. It is a $2.1 trillion “road map” for development of the cybernetics market until 2035.[1] Programs[edit] AeroNet pilotless aviation systems are widely used in agriculture, cargo transportation, and during search and rescue operations. The new flying taxi is called SerVert SV5B created by Russia's aviation startup, Aviaton.[2]AvtoNet long-haul ground transportation using robotized road corridorsMariNet digital navigation, pilotless sea vessels, and exploration of ocean resources.NeuroNet men will communicative with machines by neural interface.[3] Other goals See also[edit] Notes[edit] External links[edit] National Technological Initiative official site
Medea hypothesis Past "suicide attempts" include: Methane poisoning, 3.5 billion years agoThe oxygen catastrophe, 2.7 billion years agoSnowball earth, twice, 2.3 billion years ago and 790–630 million years agoAt least five putative hydrogen sulfide-induced mass extinctions, such as the Great Dying, 252.28 million years ago The list does not include the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, since this was, at least partially, externally induced by a meteor impact. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
March of the Machines Book by Kevin Warwick March of the Machines: Why the New Race of Robots Will Rule the World (1997, hardcover), published in paperback as March of the Machines: The Breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence (2004), is a book by Kevin Warwick. It presents an overview of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), often focusing on anecdotes of Warwick's own work, and then imagines future scenarios. In particular, Warwick finds it likely that such AIs will become smart enough to replace humans, and humans may be unable to stop them. Contents[edit] The book has a conversational style, with little technical detail.[1] Warwick proposes that because machines will become more intelligent than humans, machine takeover is all but inevitable. Reception[edit] Don Braben begins his review of Warwick's book by stating that "Specialists love to share dire predictions of the future, which stem from limited perspectives." Notes[edit]
Pleometrosis Pleometrosis is a behavior observed in social insects where colony formation is initiated by multiple queens primarily by the same species of insect. This type of behavior has been mainly studied in ants but also occurs in wasps, bees, and termites. Selection pressures causing pleometrosis in ants[edit] The driving selection pressure that causes ant species to form colonies through pleometrosis appears to be inter-colony competition in areas with high colony density. Costs and benefits of pleometrosis[edit] Ant queen creating hole for colony formation Pleometrosis is necessary to survive inter-colony competition in high density and resource-limited areas but the majority of pleometrotic colonies cut back to one queen before the reproductive stages of colony growth. Colony foundation by pleometrosis in Azteca ants[edit] References[edit]
Negative feedback Simple feedback model. The feedback is negative if AB < 0 Negative feedback occurs when the result of a process influences the operation of the process itself in such a way as to reduce changes. Negative feedback tends to make a system self-regulating; it can produce stability and reduce the effect of fluctuations. Negative feedback loops in which just the right amount of correction is applied in the most timely manner can be very stable, accurate, and responsive. Negative feedback is widely used in mechanical and electronic engineering, but it also occurs naturally within living organisms, and can be seen in many other fields from chemistry and economics to social behaviour and the climate. History[edit] Early researchers in the area of cybernetics subsequently generalised the idea of negative feedback to cover any goal-seeking or purposeful behavior.[9] All purposeful behavior may be considered to require negative feed-back. Overview[edit] Feedback loops in the human body Use[edit]
The Major Transitions in Evolution Book by John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry The Major Transitions in Evolution is a book written by John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry (Oxford University Press, 1995).[1][2][3][4] Maynard Smith and Szathmáry identified several properties common to the transitions: As stated by the authors,[6] this book was aimed at professional biologists and assumes considerable prior knowledge. Their work has generated substantial interest and further research into major transitions,[10] including a devoted issue of papers to the subject in 2016 in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.[11] Additional suggestions to the transitions concept include the inclusion of viruses as playing a role as major catalysts for evolutionary transitions in two ways. See also[edit] References[edit]