
In slime molds, evolution selects 'loners' who refrain from collective behavior - zolpidem_dream
https://phys.org/news/2020-03-evolution-loners-behaviorat-slime-molds.html
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codingslave
I think being a loner is a high variance strategy. In a majority of the time,
it hurts you in our society. But certain individuals will see huge levels of
success.

It's similar to the genetics of schizophrenia. Families with genetic
schizophrenia and more specifically individuals with high chances of mental
illness often see bifurcated life outcomes, they are both more likely to end
up down and out, homeless, in a mental hospital etc. But they are also more
likely to see outsized success, academically and business wise. This has been
studied and proven. It's common among siblings, one succumbing to
schizophrenia, the other reaching upper echelons of society.

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asdfman123
Well, be careful not to assume that the modern-day loner is the same as the
Pleistocene-era loner.

I'm both somewhat shy and very much introverted. I don't like artificially-
created social situations. But I'll talk at great length to family members and
people I work closely with.

If I were in a Pleistocene tribe where basically I'm surrounded by 120 members
of my extended family, coworkers, etc. etc., I'd probably talk a lot more. I
like social interactions, I'm just uncomfortable in novel situations and I
don't like small talk.

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r6754dw
True, our modern societies where most people meet strangers often are
historically unusual. Before industrialization the vast majority of population
lived their lives in small village communities where everybody knew each
other. Traits that might be harmful today weren't necessarily so back then.

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chrischen
While human social loners fit the mould, I don't think that's the lone point
we should get out of this. What is actually beneficial to society (whether
mold or human) is diversity in genetics, neuro-diversity, and in general.

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nwatson
So, for one kind of "loner", the psychopaths with their psychopathy, as they
relate to general human society and culture:

\- do psychopaths prey on and drag down society in most circumstances until
there's an "evolutionary bottleneck" and they're the only ones with the will-
to-power and ability to bring a "remnant" portion of humanity through dire
circumstances that would otherwise lead that portion perishing? ... are they
the failsafe?

\- is psychopathy an emergent always-negative phenomenon that arises randomly
once in a while as a result of random couplings among a pool of people on whom
not-quite-psychopathic-behavior-derived-from-genetic-traits confers survival
benefits and perhaps overall good to society?

\- or are psychopaths on overall good for society? do they always confer
benefit even though we perceive them negatively?

\- other alternatives?

[edit: punctuation]

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leetcrew
I read a game theory paper a while ago (can't find a link, but maybe someone
will remember it) that suggested a stable small population of defectors (ie,
psychopaths) does confer a benefit to the overall group in a cooperative
public goods game. if the group becomes accustomed to having zero defectors
(ie, excessively trusting), the spontaneous emergence of even one defector
will wreak havoc. if there are too many, the whole thing falls apart because
there is no cooperation. so the small population of defectors provides
something like immunity to the whole group.

could just be a consequence of the model they chose, but interesting to think
about nonetheless. I'd be very grateful if someone could remember the name of
the paper!

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koeng
This activity can sometimes be annoying in biology experiments, especially
when you get down to the bacterial size and do measurements on the population.

Think the average expression of gene X is 100? Well, it is, with 90% of the
population expressing the gene at 111 and 10% not expressing it at all.

Unlike computers, cells like to do their own thing :(

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sysbin
> Unlike computers, cells like to do their own thing :(

Fairly the same, if everything at the lowest level is just programmed to do
what occurs.

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koeng
technically true, the best kind of true

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RedBeetDeadpool
This makes me think of how certain types of people, i.e. the experimental,
inventors, entrepreneurs, artists, etc, who live life to the beat of their own
drums, don't really ever let society tell them how they should act, but if
they ever strike gold, the rest of society immediate starts to follow along
using their products, or mimicking their style. Also the majority of these
types of people never strike gold, but they will wander on their own path
regardless - very similarly to those 'loners'.

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8bitsrule
Mandatory Agent Smith speech follows.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrBdYmStZJ4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrBdYmStZJ4)

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darepublic
I feel validated by mold

~~~
MrK93
We are mold people now

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bobbyz
You seem like a fungi

