Maybe, if they all work together…

Last time we talked about how the dorg, the lab’s latest batch of digital organisms, are unlikely to be able to evolve into intelligence. This week, we talk about how they might be able to do it anyway. But first, we need to get them to cooperate. In fact, we made need many dorg to act as one creature—to be multicellular. Join us as we talk about cooperation, eusocial insects, and the mystery of multicellular animals.

Here’s an article on how a single celled life form evolved into a multicellular organism in the laboratory.

Experimental evolution of multicellularity

Here’s a paper about Salpingoeca rosetta, everyone’s favorite choanoflagellate, that can live as either a single cell or in a multiple cell colonial form.

Multicellular Development in a Choanoflagellate

Here’s an article about the amazing cooperation of termites.

Mind in the Mound: How Do Termites Build Their Huge Structures?

Here’s a brief outline of some simple algorithms that can capture some of the complex results that insects like ants and termites can produce.

Ant intelligence

Here’s an article about the conditions that can help cooperation to evolve.

Survival of the nicest?