I'd like to introduce you to an organism: a slime mold, Physarum polycephalum. It's a mold with an identity crisis, because it's not a mold, so let's get that straight to start with. It is one of 700 known slime molds belonging to the kingdom of the amoeba. It is a single-celled organism, a cell, that joins together with other cells to form a mass super-cell to maximize its resources. So within a slime mold you might find thousands or millions of nuclei, all sharing a cell wall, all operating as one entity. In its natural habitat, you might find the slime mold foraging in woodlands, eating rotting vegetation, but you might equally find it in research laboratories, classrooms, and even artists' studios.
Želela bih da vam predstavim jedan organizam: sluzavu plesan, Physarum polycephalum. To je plesan s krizom identiteta, jer nije plesan, raščistimo s tim na samom početku. Jedna je od 700 poznatih sluzavih plesni koje pripadaju carstvu ameba. Jednoćelijski je organizam, ćelija, koja se spaja sa drugim ćelijama radi formiranja masivne super-ćelije da bi maksimirala svoje resurse. Unutar sluzave plesni možete pronaći hiljade ili milione jedara, koja dele ćelijski zid i deluju kao jedan entitet. U svom prirodnom staništu, sluzavu plesan možete pronaći u njenom šumskom traženju hrane, kako jede trulu vegetaciju, ali takođe i u istraživačkim laboratorijima, učionicama, pa čak i u umetničkim ateljeima.
I first came across the slime mold about five years ago. A microbiologist friend of mine gave me a petri dish with a little yellow blob in it and told me to go home and play with it. The only instructions I was given, that it likes it dark and damp and its favorite food is porridge oats. I'm an artist who's worked for many years with biology, with scientific processes, so living material is not uncommon for me. I've worked with plants, bacteria, cuttlefish, fruit flies. So I was keen to get my new collaborator home to see what it could do. So I took it home and I watched. I fed it a varied diet. I observed as it networked. It formed a connection between food sources. I watched it leave a trail behind it, indicating where it had been. And I noticed that when it was fed up with one petri dish, it would escape and find a better home.
Prvi put sam na nju naišla pre otprilike pet godina. Prijatelj mikrobiolog mi je dao petrijevu posudu sa žutom grudvicom rekavši da se kući s njom poigram. Jedina uputstva su bila da voli mračno i vlažno i da joj je omiljena hrana ovsena kaša. Umetnica sam i dugi niz godina sam radila sa biološkim naučnim postupcima, pa mi živi materijal nije neobičan. Radila sam sa biljkama, bakterijama sipama, voćnim mušicama. Jedva sam čekala da odnesem svoju novu saradnicu kući da vidim šta može da radi. Odnela sam je kući i posmatrala. Davala sam joj raznovrsnu hranu. Posmatrala sam kako se umrežava. Stvarala je vezu između izvora hrane. Gledala sam kako ostavlja trag iza sebe, označavajući gde je bila. Primetila sam da bi se, kad je bila zasićena jednom petrijevom posudom, izmicala i tražila bolji dom.
I captured my observations through time-lapse photography. Slime mold grows at about one centimeter an hour, so it's not really ideal for live viewing unless there's some form of really extreme meditation, but through the time lapse, I could observe some really interesting behaviors. For instance, having fed on a nice pile of oats, the slime mold goes off to explore new territories in different directions simultaneously. When it meets itself, it knows it's already there, it recognizes it's there, and instead retreats back and grows in other directions. I was quite impressed by this feat, at how what was essentially just a bag of cellular slime could somehow map its territory, know itself, and move with seeming intention.
Zabeležila sam svoja opažanja putem snimanja proteklog vremena. Sluzava plesan raste oko jedan centimetar na sat, pa i nije idealna za posmatranje uživo osim ako postoji neki vid zaista ekstremne meditacije, ali pomoću ove tehnike mogla sam opažati neka zaista zanimljiva ponašanja. Na primer, pošto se nahranila lepom porcijom ovsa sluzava plesan odlazi na istraživanje novih teritorija u različitim smerovima istovremeno. Kada sebe sretne zna da je već tu, prepoznaje gde je, pa se povlači nazad i raste u drugim pravcima. Bila sam prilično impresionirana ovim poduhvatom, kako u suštini obična vreća ćelijske sluzi može da nekako mapira svoje teritorije, da se prepozna i da se kreće kao da ima nameru.
I found countless scientific studies, research papers, journal articles, all citing incredible work with this one organism, and I'm going to share a few of those with you. For example, a team in Hokkaido University in Japan filled a maze with slime mold. It joined together and formed a mass cell. They introduced food at two points, oats of course, and it formed a connection between the food. It retracted from empty areas and dead ends. There are four possible routes through this maze, yet time and time again, the slime mold established the shortest and the most efficient route. Quite clever. The conclusion from their experiment was that the slime mold had a primitive form of intelligence. Another study exposed cold air at regular intervals to the slime mold. It didn't like it. It doesn't like it cold. It doesn't like it dry. They did this at repeat intervals, and each time, the slime mold slowed down its growth in response. However, at the next interval, the researchers didn't put the cold air on, yet the slime mold slowed down in anticipation of it happening. It somehow knew that it was about the time for the cold air that it didn't like. The conclusion from their experiment was that the slime mold was able to learn. A third experiment: the slime mold was invited to explore a territory covered in oats. It fans out in a branching pattern. As it goes, each food node it finds, it forms a network, a connection to, and keeps foraging. After 26 hours, it established quite a firm network between the different oats. Now there's nothing remarkable in this until you learn that the center oat that it started from represents the city of Tokyo, and the surrounding oats are suburban railway stations. The slime mold had replicated the Tokyo transport network — (Laughter) — a complex system developed over time by community dwellings, civil engineering, urban planning. What had taken us well over 100 years took the slime mold just over a day. The conclusion from their experiment was that the slime mold can form efficient networks and solve the traveling salesman problem.
Našla sam bezbroj naučnih studija, radova, članaka, svi navode neverovatan rad s tim jednim organizmom i podeliću sa vama neke od njih. Na primer, tim na japanskom univerzitetu Hokaido napunio je lavirint sluzavom plesni. Spojile su se i formirale masivnu ćeliju. Uveli su joj hranu na dva mesta, ovas, naravno i napravila je vezu između hrane. Povukla se iz praznih prostora i ćorsokaka. Postoje četiri moguća puta kroz lavirint, a sluzava plesan je, apsolutno svaki put napravila najkraći i najefikasniji put. Vrlo pametno. Zaključak iz njihovog eksperimenta je bio da je sluzava plesan primitivni oblik inteligencije. U drugoj studiji su joj puštali hladan vazduh u redovnim intervalima. To joj se nije dopalo. Hladno ne voli. Ne voli osušeno. To su ponavljali u intervalima i svaki put je odreagovala usporavajući svoj rast. Kada istraživači u narednom intervalu nisu pustili hladan vazduh, sluzava plesan je ipak usporila u očekivanju tog događaja. Nekako je znala da je vreme za hladan vazduh koji joj se ne dopada. Zaključak iz njihovog eksperimenta je bio da sluzava plesan može da uči. Treći eksperiment: sluzavoj plesni je dato da istraži područje pokriveno ovsom. Raspršila se u razgranati uzorak. Kako to već ide, svaki čvorić hrane koji nađe, priključuje, tvorenjem veza u mreži i nastavlja u potrazi za hranom. Posle 26 sati, stvorila je prilično čvrstu mrežu između rasutog ovsa. U tome nije ništa izuzetno sve dok ne saznate da centralni ovas od kojeg je započela predstavlja grad Tokio, a okolni ovas prigradske železničke stanice. Sluzava plesan je kopirala tokijsku prometnu mrežu - (Smeh) - kompleksan sistem razvijen tokom vremena iz životne prostore zajednice, građanskog inženjerstva, urbanog planiranja. Nama je za to trebalo više od 100 godina, a sluzavoj plesni nešto malo više od jednog dana. Zaključak iz njihovog eksperimenta je bio da sluzava plesan može da formira efikasne mreže i rešava probleme trgovačkog putnika.
It is a biological computer. As such, it has been mathematically modeled, algorithmically analyzed. It's been sonified, replicated, simulated. World over, teams of researchers are decoding its biological principles to understand its computational rules and applying that learning to the fields of electronics, programming and robotics.
Ona je biološki kompjuter. Kao takva je bila matematički oblikovana, algoritamski analizirana. Bila je sonifikovana, kopirana, simulirana. Širom sveta, timovi istraživača dekodiraju njene biološke principe da bi razumeli njena pravila računanja i primenili to učenje na područja elektronike, programiranja i robotike.
So the question is, how does this thing work? It doesn't have a central nervous system. It doesn't have a brain, yet it can perform behaviors that we associate with brain function. It can learn, it can remember, it can solve problems, it can make decisions. So where does that intelligence lie? So this is a microscopy, a video I shot, and it's about 100 times magnification, sped up about 20 times, and inside the slime mold, there is a rhythmic pulsing flow, a vein-like structure carrying cellular material, nutrients and chemical information through the cell, streaming first in one direction and then back in another. And it is this continuous, synchronous oscillation within the cell that allows it to form quite a complex understanding of its environment, but without any large-scale control center. This is where its intelligence lies.
Dakle, pitanje je, kako ona funkcioniše? Nema centralni nervni sistem ni mozak, a ipak pokazuje ponašanje koje povezujemo s mozgom. Može da uči, da pamti, da rešava probleme, donosi odluke. Pa, gde leži ta inteligencija? Ovo je mikroskopija, video koji sam snimila i koji je uvećan oko 100 puta i ubrzan oko 20 puta. Unutar sluzave plesni, postoji ritmički pulsirajući tok, struktura slična venama prenosi ćelijski materijal, hranjive sastojke i hemijske informacije kroz ćeliju strujanjem prvo u jednom, a onda natrag u drugom pravcu. Te kontinuirane, sinhrone oscilacije unutar ćelije omogućavaju joj prilično složeno razumevanje svoje okoline, ali bez ikakvog kontrolnog centra velikih razmera. Tu leži njena inteligencija.
So it's not just academic researchers in universities that are interested in this organism. A few years ago, I set up SliMoCo, the Slime Mould Collective. It's an online, open, democratic network for slime mold researchers and enthusiasts to share knowledge and experimentation across disciplinary divides and across academic divides. The Slime Mould Collective membership is self-selecting. People have found the collective as the slime mold finds the oats. And it comprises of scientists and computer scientists and researchers but also artists like me, architects, designers, writers, activists, you name it. It's a very interesting, eclectic membership. Just a few examples: an artist who paints with fluorescent Physarum; a collaborative team who are combining biological and electronic design with 3D printing technologies in a workshop; another artist who is using the slime mold as a way of engaging a community to map their area. Here, the slime mold is being used directly as a biological tool, but metaphorically as a symbol for ways of talking about social cohesion, communication and cooperation. Other public engagement activities, I run lots of slime mold workshops, a creative way of engaging with the organism. So people are invited to come and learn about what amazing things it can do, and they design their own petri dish experiment, an environment for the slime mold to navigate so they can test its properties. Everybody takes home a new pet and is invited to post their results on the Slime Mould Collective. And the collective has enabled me to form collaborations with a whole array of interesting people. I've been working with filmmakers on a feature-length slime mold documentary, and I stress feature-length, which is in the final stages of edit and will be hitting your cinema screens very soon. (Laughter)
Nisu samo akademski istraživači na univerzitetima zainteresovani za ovaj organizam. Pre nekoliko godina, osnovala sam SliMoCo, Zajednicu sluzave plesni. To je onlajn, otvorena, demokratska mreža za istraživače sluzave plesni i entuzijaste gde dele znanje i eksperimentisanje preko granica naučnih disiplina i preko akademskih polarizacija. Članstvo u Zajednici sluzave plesni odabirate sami. Ljudi su pronašli zajednicu kao što sluzava plesan pronalazi ovas. U njoj su naučnici, kompjuterski naučnici i istraživači ali takođe i umetnici, kao ja, arhitekte, dizajneri, pisci, aktivisti itd. To je vrlo zanimljivo, eklektičko članstvo. Samo nekoliko primera: umetnik koji slika fluorescentnim Physarum-om; saradnički tim koji kombinuje biološki i elektronski dizajn sa 3D tehnologijom štampanja u radionici; drugi umetnik koji koristi sluzavu plesan kao način angažovanja zajednice da mapira svoje područje. Ovde se sluzava plesan koristi direktno kao biološki alat, ali metaforički kao simbol za razgovore o društvenoj koheziji, komunikaciji i saradnji. Od ostalih aktivnosti javnog angažmana, pokrenula sam mnoge radionice sluzave plesni, kreativne načine za bavljenje organizmom. Pozvala sam ljude da dođu i nauče kakve neverovatne stvari radi i oni dizajniraju sopstveni eksperiment petrijeve posude, okruženja za navigaciju sluzave plesni, da mogu da ispituju njena svojstva. Svako odnese kući novog ljubimca i pozvan je da pošalje svoje rezultate na Zajednicu sluzave plesni. Zajednica mi je omogućila da sarađujem sa čitavim nizom zanimljivih ljudi. Radila sam sa snimateljima na dugometražnom dokumentarcu o sluzavoj plesni, naglašavam dugometražni, koji je u završnoj fazi i ubrzo će se pojaviti na vašim bioskopskim platnima. (Smeh)
It's also enabled me to conduct what I think is the world's first human slime mold experiment. This is part of an exhibition in Rotterdam last year. We invited people to become slime mold for half an hour. So we essentially tied people together so they were a giant cell, and invited them to follow slime mold rules. You have to communicate through oscillations, no speaking. You have to operate as one entity, one mass cell, no egos, and the motivation for moving and then exploring the environment is in search of food. So a chaotic shuffle ensued as this bunch of strangers tied together with yellow ropes wearing "Being Slime Mold" t-shirts wandered through the museum park. When they met trees, they had to reshape their connections and reform as a mass cell through not speaking. This is a ludicrous experiment in many, many ways. This isn't hypothesis-driven. We're not trying to prove, demonstrate anything. But what it did provide us was a way of engaging a broad section of the public with ideas of intelligence, agency, autonomy, and provide a playful platform for discussions about the things that ensued. One of the most exciting things about this experiment was the conversation that happened afterwards. An entirely spontaneous symposium happened in the park. People talked about the human psychology, of how difficult it was to let go of their individual personalities and egos. Other people talked about bacterial communication. Each person brought in their own individual interpretation, and our conclusion from this experiment was that the people of Rotterdam were highly cooperative, especially when given beer. We didn't just give them oats. We gave them beer as well.
Takođe mi je omogućila da izvedem ono što mislim da je prvi humani eksperiment sluzave plesni na svetu. To je deo prošlogodišnje izložbe u Roterdamu. Pozvali smo ljude da pola sata budu sluzava plesan. U suštini smo ih međusobno vezali, da bi bili velika ćelija i pozvali smo ih da slede pravila sluzave plesni. Morate da komunicirate putem oscilacija, bez reči. Morate delovati kao jedan entitet, jedna masivna ćelija, bez ega, a motivacija za kretanje i istraživanje okoline je potraga za hranom. Haotična zbrka je usledila kada je ova gomila stranaca povezanih žutim konopcima, u majicama s natpisom "Biće sluzava plesan" lutala muzejskim parkom. Kad su naišli na stabla, morali su da preoblikuju svoje veze i da se preurede kao masivna ćelija bez reči. To je apsurdan eksperiment iz mnogo razloga. Nije zasnovan na hipotezama. Ne pokušavamo da dokažemo, pokažemo ništa. Međutim, omogućio nam je da široki deo javnosti zaokupiramo idejama o inteligenciji, aktivnosti, autonomiji, i pružio nam je razigranu platformu za rasprave o stvarima koje su usledile. Jedna od najuzbudljivijih stvari povodom ovog eksperimenta bio je razgovor posle toga. Sasvim spontani simpozijum se dogodio u parku. Ljudi su razgovarali o ljudskoj psihologiji, kako je teško odreći se svoje ličnosti i ega. Drugi ljudi su govorili o bakterijskoj komunikaciji. Svaka osoba je dala sopstveno tumačenje i naš zaključak iz ovog eksperimenta je bio da su ljudi u Roterdamu bili vrlo kooperativni, pogotovo kada su dobili pivo. Nismo im davali samo ovas. Dali smo im i pivo.
But they weren't as efficient as the slime mold, and the slime mold, for me, is a fascinating subject matter. It's biologically fascinating, it's computationally interesting, but it's also a symbol, a way of engaging with ideas of community, collective behavior, cooperation. A lot of my work draws on the scientific research, so this pays homage to the maze experiment but in a different way. And the slime mold is also my working material. It's a coproducer of photographs, prints, animations, participatory events. Whilst the slime mold doesn't choose to work with me, exactly, it is a collaboration of sorts. I can predict certain behaviors by understanding how it operates, but I can't control it. The slime mold has the final say in the creative process. And after all, it has its own internal aesthetics. These branching patterns that we see we see across all forms, scales of nature, from river deltas to lightning strikes, from our own blood vessels to neural networks. There's clearly significant rules at play in this simple yet complex organism, and no matter what our disciplinary perspective or our mode of inquiry, there's a great deal that we can learn from observing and engaging with this beautiful, brainless blob.
Ipak nisu bili tako efikasni kao sluzava plesan koja je za mene, fascinantna tema. Fascinantna je biološki, zanimljiva računarski, ali je takođe i simbol, način uključivanja ideja zajednice, kolektivnog ponašanja, saradnje. Veliki deo moga rada se oslanja na naučna istraživanja, pa se ovim odaje počast eksperimentu lavirinta, ali na drugačiji način. Sluzava plesan je takođe moj radni materijal. Ona je saizvođač fotografija, grafika, animacija, participativnih događaja. Iako sluzava plesan ne bira da radi sa mnom, to jeste neka vrsta saradnje. Mogu da predvidim određena ponašanja razumevanjem kako funkcioniše, ali ne mogu da je kontrolišem. Sluzava plesan ima zadnju reč u kreativnom procesu. I na kraju, ona ima sopstvenu unutrašnju estetiku. Ovi razgranati uzorci koje vidimo, viđamo u svim prirodnim oblicima i razmerama, od rečnih delti do sevanja munje, od naših krvnih sudova do neuronskih mreža. Postoje očito značajna pravila igre u ovom jednostavnom, a ipak složenom organizmu i bez obzira koje je naša perspektiva ili naš način ispitivanja, postoji mnogo toga što možemo da naučimo iz opažanja i bavljenja sa ovom lepom grudvicom bez mozga.
I give you Physarum polycephalum.
Dajem vam Physarum polycephalum.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)