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NOT THE END-GAME. "[W]e as humans are naive if we believe that we are the end product of evolution. I'm sure we are not." (Steen Rasmussen). https://lnkd.in/dwADMWc View in LinkedIn

INTERESTING VIEW. Steen Rasmussen on video. https://lnkd.in/dTvYrn4 View in LinkedIn

"STEEN RASMUSSEN. The main scientific effort of Steen Rasmussen over the last ten years has been to explore, understand and construct a transition from nonliving to living materials. He became a scientific team leader in 2002 at Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, and he has since held research leadership positions at the Santa Fe Institute, University of Copenhagen and University of Southern Denmark." https://lnkd.in/dEYN9m2 View in LinkedIn

CURRENT STATUS. Work continues on Conway’s Game of Life. A sampling of the imaginative projects undertaken, https://lnkd.in/dJ89ZU9 View in LinkedIn

IRISH POTATO FAMINE. "The basic problem with a monoculture is that it's all vulnerable to the same attack. The Irish Potato Famine of 1845--9 is perhaps the most famous monoculture-related disaster. The Irish planted only one variety of potato, and the genetically identical potatoes succumbed to a rot caused by Phytophthora infestans." https://lnkd.in/dvZvf8T View in LinkedIn

ACCUMULATING COMPLEXITY. "For if there is any purpose legible at all in the millennia of human history, it is in the unflagging persistence with which we add to the complexity of the universe." Except viruses which devolve from complexity to simplicity. The story is a bit more complicated than the simple ascent to complexity. https://lnkd.in/edrARjk View in LinkedIn

AGRICULTURAL MONOCULTURE is very susceptible to catastrophic viral collapse. "FAO estimates that since the beginning of this century about 75 percent of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost. We are becoming increasingly dependent on fewer and fewer crop varieties and, as a result, a rapidly diminishing gene pool." https://lnkd.in/d_bBGHi View in LinkedIn

EMERGENCE. "Stephen Wolfram was so astonished when he discovered how very complicated results could be obtained with very simple rules that he began a thorough research in the 1980s then published "A New Kind of Science" in 2002. He emphasizes notably the power of CA to experiment on emergence: the apparition of complexity or order, out of simple systems." https://lnkd.in/dN7T9ZC View in LinkedIn

COMPUTER MONOCULTURE. "Today, our computing infrastructure is more vulnerable than ever before due to a convergence of four key factors. First, the world population of computers is more homogeneous than ever before, creating a computing “monoculture;” if one machine is susceptible to a bug, the rest are too. Second, our computing systems are more connected than ever before, enabling a fast spreading virus to rapidly infect millions of machines. Essentially, each of our desktops have a genetically similar software and hardware makeup." https://lnkd.in/eV_mmFn View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this second of three weekends dedicated to plant clocks. The last weekend shows how the clocks are used to control flowering. The sheer diversity of plant solutions, the modulations on a theme, and the use of quite different molecular strategies to solve clock issues is an Exemplar of the sophistication of these strange creatures called plants, that we still barely understand. View in LinkedIn