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Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution

Forget little green men — the galaxy’s most likely aliens may be hives and swarms. From biology to starships, insectoid life could shape civilizations stranger than ours.

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Grab one of our new SFIA mugs and make your morning coffee a little more futuristic — available now on our Fourthwall store! https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall… our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Facebook Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 Reddit: / isaacarthur Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editor: Thomas Owens Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic Chapters 0:00 Intro 3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy 6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths 13:47 Signals in the Swarm 16:53 Sensory Worlds 18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species 19:35 Privacy 22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology 20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators 23:21 Cultural & Political Models 24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations 25:52 Final Thoughts.

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Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
Reddit: / isaacarthur.
Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.
SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits:
Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution.
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editor: Thomas Owens.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic.

Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy.
6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths.
13:47 Signals in the Swarm.
16:53 Sensory Worlds.
18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species.
19:35 Privacy.
22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology.
20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators.
23:21 Cultural & Political Models.
24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations.
25:52 Final Thoughts

Visualizing sound: Scientists reveal hidden behaviors of sound waves

An international team of scientists has developed a new analysis of how sound waves behave, revealing surprising effects that have largely been overlooked for decades. In the new paper in Scientific Reports, which was led by researchers from City St George’s, University of London, the team explored how sound waves move through air and how those movements might be perceived visually.

Sound travels as a longitudinal wave, meaning air molecules vibrate back and forth rather than moving up and down like waves in a violin string. These vibrations are usually assumed to be smooth and regular, and as a physical phenomenon they form the basis of acoustics and some forms of seismic transmission. However, the new theoretical analysis of physical longitudinal wave motion reveals that the behavior of sound waves changes dramatically when they become stronger (i.e. above 160 dB at 10 kHz, which is similar to the noise level inside a high-pitched jet engine), and the prior assumptions are only true for moderate sounds.

Using computer simulations, the researchers—namely Professor Christopher Tyler and Professor Joshua Solomon at City St George’s and Professor Stuart M. Anstis from the University of California, San Diego—created animations where each dot represents an air molecule. Each dot moves back and forth in place, slightly out of step with its neighbors. This tiny delay between dots creates the appearance of a wave traveling through space as the dots move back and forth in place, just as sound does in real life.

Dr. Stuart Hameroff: Consciousness is More than Computation!

13 years ago, I walked into Dr. Stuart Hameroff’s operating room with a camera, a microphone, and a single stubborn question:

Is consciousness computation?

Hameroff, an anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona, and co-author with Sir Roger Penrose of the Orch OR theory, said no.

Emphatically. Unfashionably. Against the entire weight of mainstream neuroscience and Silicon Valley orthodoxy.

At the GF2045 conference, where I first met him, Ray Kurzweil went out of his way to declare Orch OR “totally wrong.” Others called it speculative. Untestable. Unscientific.

Today, in the age of large language models, that argument is no longer a niche dispute among philosophers and physicists. It is the decisive question of our century.

Continue reading “Dr. Stuart Hameroff: Consciousness is More than Computation!” | >

Von Neumann probes: Where are they all?

In the 1960s the Hungarian-born American mathematician John von Neumann wrote about machines that could make exact copies of themselves. He envisaged a kind of robot equipped with a computer brain that could be programmed to reproduce itself from raw materials taken from its surroundings. It wasn’t long before some people suggested that von Neumann machines, in the form of robot spacecraft, would be a great way for us to explore the Galaxy.

My other YouTube channels:
The Science Fiction Rock Experience (the music show I produce):
/ @sciencefictionrockexperience.
Discover Maths (with Juan Medina):
/ @discovermaths.
Science World (with Emrah Polat):
/ @scienceworld1

My website:
https://www.daviddarling.info

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