Naslov
Taming of the shroom: fungi, computation and mycophilosophy

Autori
Šekrst, Kristina

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
Information and Computing in Nature: Philosophical Perspectives

Mjesto i datum
Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, 01.12.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
mycophilosophy, fungal computer, philosophy of fungi, computation

Sažetak
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the road less taken in natural philosophical investigations: the study of the fungi, or “a neglected megascience” (Hawksworth, 2009)). I will examine how mycelium networks might be seen as neural network analogues, and compare such a concept with connectionism and computationalism in the philosophy of mind. Fungal networks were studied as real communication networks, in which the fungus can use electrical signaling to send messages between different mycelial parts regarding food sources, injuries, local conditions or presence of other individuals around it (Olsson and Hansson, 1995). According to Sheldrake (2020), Olsson was hesitant to call such a network “a brain”, but we could observe electrical impulse regulation as “brain- like circuits, gates and oscillators”. In some cases, “decision gates” could be seen as a “flexible and adaptable network”, where in some fungi, hyphae are divided into compartments by sensitively-regulated pores: opening or closing a pore changes the signal strength. I will also observe such “fungal logical computation” cases from the aspect of logic and computationalism, and compare it with plant cases that have been seen as distributive networks and information processing systems (Bassel, 2018). I will use these computation-like structures to also observe fungi from the standpoint of computational complexity, taking into account Boddy’s experiment of encouraging mycelium to work out the most efficient routes between the cities of Great Britain (Sheldrake, 2020)

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija, Računarstvo, Filozofija

POVEZANOST RADA