Slime molds have been helping us out with optimization problems. Such problems are hard for us, but slime molds have them for breakfast. Now that slime molds are well established in fields ranging from Cognitive science to Unconventional computing, I wanted to introduce slime mold Andi to the field of Sociology.
I did this by designing a variation of the well-known Tokyo subway experiment, in which a slime mold reproduced the connectivity of real-world metro stations of the Tokyo metropolitan area by connecting oat flakes placed on the same locations on a map. After reading about that experiment I wondered how slime molds would deal with suboptimal connections between networks, such as the connectivity between the Netherlands and Belgium.
It is easy to get around by train within the Netherlands or Belgium, harder to get from place to place between those countries. I let Andi forage on a map of Belgium and the Netherlands, with train stations in major cities represented by oat flakes, thinking it would faithfully reproduce the railroad network within these countries and vastly improve connectivity between them.
If successful, this would mean slime molds can identify adversity between groups of people, by highlighting a lack of infrastructure that would have been in place if these groups had wanted to interact. Andi and I repeated this experiment four times, below to the left an animation of what it looked like:
And above to the right a picture of the results. I am shocked.
Andi, are you drunk? There are real people living in those cities!
OK. Well. Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye. What with slime molds being very advanced and all. Let me point out some interesting features of Andi’s public transport infrastructure proposals:
- Isolated cities. Rather than indicating a dislike for those cities, I think Andi points to a way to alleviate the homogeneity of our culture. By creating ‘evolutionary experiments’ in isolated cities, we would stimulate between-city diversity and ultimately end up enriching our culture at large. Andi especially feels strongly Breda should be isolated (experiment 3 and 4).
- ‘Cul-de-sac’ connectivity. Many cities are dead-ended in Andi’s proposals. Maybe we need separate cities for living and shopping? The more quiet cul-de-sac cities would do fine for relaxation and homely things, while the well-connected other cities could host the hustle and bustle of commerce and entertainment.
- Dual connections. Somewhat experimentally, Andi connected some cities by two tracks rather than one. Maybe having separate tracks to and fro helps alleviate boredom for frequent travellers? Dual tracks almost always connect neighboring cities where one may expect a high volume of commuter traffic, so this seems almost practical.
- The overseas Bruges-Leeuwarden connection (experiment 2 and 4). I wonder whether Andi wants causeways or tunnels here.. tunnels seem rather dark and damp so maybe causeways.. wait; damp and dark, this is exactly how Andi likes it’s environment! I think Andi wants underseas tunnels to connect Bruges and Leeuwarden. Bruges and Leeuwarden.. nice historical cities that clearly haven’t visited nearly enough.
- Belgium and the Netherlands: still not well connected in Andi’s proposal. Except for Bruges and Leeuwarden. Oh you Andi, artist of infrastructure!
