1. Marriage between ecology and artificial intelligence
A new paper from New York-based Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, an environmental research organization, researchers have stressed the importance of mutual inspiration of artificial intelligence and ecology, the branch of biology dealing with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. This could lead to their convergence and co-evolution to benefit each other. The paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues for a synergy between AI and ecology that could not just strengthen the former, but also help to solve complex global challenges, such as disease outbreaks, loss of biodiversity, and climate change impacts.
The paper argues in favour of possibilities for AI in ecology which could include synthesising huge amounts of data, and studying minute as well as diverse variables to establish links among them to present a clearer and larger picture of what is otherwise not visible to a human analytical eye. Ecological outcomes are generally done by comparing two or more variables simultaneously. Ecologists take a beating when presented with multiple variables, as they limit themselves to only what can be measured.
AI can help in capturing how various variables interact with each other to give ecologists one big picture with more clarity so decisive outcomes become more plausible. In turn, ecology can inspire AI to be more robust with better feedback loops. Both fields can benefit from each other’s resilience, the paper says. For ecology, AI advancements in measuring, modelling, and predicting natural resilience could help prepare and respond to climate change. For AI, a clearer understanding of how ecological resilience works could inspire more resilient AIs. Truly, a marriage for a better world.
2. Human evolution then, now and ahead
Israel’s Tel Aviv University (TAU) research team’s findings that the biological and cognitive evolution of man correlated directly with the size of prey, which in turn forced a change in the weapons used in hunting them through prehistoric times, indicates that human beings of today will never stop evolving — socially, biologically and cognitively. The team found that to hunt smaller elusive animals, humans had to become smarter, faster, more focused, more observant, and more collaborative.
The hunter Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens had to change their weapons and the style of hunting as larger prey, like the woolly mammoth and elephants, reduced in numbers due to hunting, which was then the only source of food to survive. They had to develop new weapons for hunting smaller prey from larger distances as well as familiarising themselves with tracking them, besides choosing their prey with a preference for high-fat content to ensure sufficient returns on energy. They were forced to do so as, for instance, hunting a large number of agile gazelles required a much higher investment of energy than hunting one giant elephant.
The TAU researchers say this mandate on the prehistoric hunters put evolutionary pressure leading to an overall improvement in human ability and tools to ensure an adequate energy return on energy investment, in turn shaping and improving biological and cognitive skills. If true about it then, forced changes in the manner we work and live today would also be contributing to our ongoing evolution — only to be detected by future Homo Sapiens about how and what contributed to man’s evolution until then. How we would be in the future, socially, biologically and cognitively, thousands of generations down the line, may only be guessed from where we stand today.