How do schools of fish swim in harmony? - Nathan S. Jacobs
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0:08 - 0:12How do schools of fish swim in harmony?
-
0:12 - 0:16And how do the tiny cells in your brain
give rise to the complex thoughts, -
0:16 - 0:17memories,
-
0:17 - 0:20and consciousness that are you?
-
0:20 - 0:24Oddly enough, those questions have
the same general answer: -
0:24 - 0:25emergence,
-
0:25 - 0:30or the spontaneous creation of
sophisticated behaviors and functions -
0:30 - 0:34from large groups of simple elements.
-
0:34 - 0:37Like many animals,
fish stick together in groups, -
0:37 - 0:40but that's not just because
they enjoy each other's company. -
0:40 - 0:42It's a matter of survival.
-
0:42 - 0:46Schools of fish exhibit
complex swarming behaviors -
0:46 - 0:48that help them evade hungry predators,
-
0:48 - 0:54while a lone fish is quickly singled out
as easy prey. -
0:54 - 0:57So which brilliant fish leader
is the one in charge? -
0:57 - 0:59Actually, no one is,
-
0:59 - 1:01and everyone is.
-
1:01 - 1:03So what does that mean?
-
1:03 - 1:07While the school of fish is elegantly
twisting, turning, and dodging sharks -
1:07 - 1:10in what looks
like deliberate coordination, -
1:10 - 1:15each individual fish is actually
just following two basic rules -
1:15 - 1:17that have nothing to do with the shark:
-
1:17 - 1:21one, stay close, but not too close
to your neighbor, -
1:21 - 1:24and two, keep swimmming.
-
1:24 - 1:30As individuals, the fish are focused on
the minutiae of these local interactions, -
1:30 - 1:34but if enough fish join the group,
something remarkable happens. -
1:34 - 1:40The movement of individual fish
is eclipsed by an entirely new entity: -
1:40 - 1:44the school, which has its own
unique set of behaviors. -
1:44 - 1:47The school isn't controlled
by any single fish. -
1:47 - 1:54It simply emerges if you have enough fish
following the right set of local rules. -
1:54 - 1:57It's like an accident that happens over
and over again, -
1:57 - 2:02allowing fish all across the ocean
to reliably avoid predation. -
2:02 - 2:04And it's not just fish.
-
2:04 - 2:09Emergence is a basic property of many
complex systems of interacting elements. -
2:09 - 2:14For example, the specific way in which
millions of grains of sand -
2:14 - 2:17collide and tumble over each other
-
2:17 - 2:22almost always produces the same
basic pattern of ripples. -
2:22 - 2:24And when moisture freezes
in the atmosphere, -
2:24 - 2:27the specific binding properties
of water molecules -
2:27 - 2:34reliably produce radiating lattices
that form into beautiful snowflakes. -
2:34 - 2:36What makes emergence so complex
-
2:36 - 2:39is that you can't understand it
by simply taking it apart, -
2:39 - 2:42like the engine of a car.
-
2:42 - 2:46Taking things apart is a good first step
to understanding a complex system. -
2:46 - 2:49But if you reduce a school of fish
to individuals, -
2:49 - 2:51it loses the ability to evade predators,
-
2:51 - 2:54and there's nothing left to study.
-
2:54 - 2:58And if you reduce the brain
to individual neurons, -
2:58 - 3:01you're left with something that is
notoriously unreliable, -
3:01 - 3:04and nothing like how we think and behave,
-
3:04 - 3:06at least most of the time.
-
3:06 - 3:09Regardless, whatever you're thinking about
right now -
3:09 - 3:13isn't reliant on a single neuron
lodged in the corner of your brain. -
3:13 - 3:17Rather, the mind emerges from
the collective activities -
3:17 - 3:22of many, many neurons.
-
3:22 - 3:25There are billions of neurons
in the human brain, -
3:25 - 3:29and trillions of connections between
all those neurons. -
3:29 - 3:32When you turn such a complicated
system like that on, -
3:32 - 3:36it could behave in all sorts
of weird ways, but it doesn't. -
3:36 - 3:41The neurons in our brain follow
simple rules, just like the fish, -
3:41 - 3:46so that as a group, their activity
self-organizes into reliable patterns -
3:46 - 3:49that let you do things
like recognize faces, -
3:49 - 3:53successfully repeat the same task
over and over again, -
3:53 - 3:58and keep all those silly little habits
that everyone likes about you. -
3:58 - 4:02So, what are the simple rules
when it comes to the brain? -
4:02 - 4:05The basic function of each neuron
in the brain -
4:05 - 4:09is to either excite or inhibit
other neurons. -
4:09 - 4:12If you connect a few neurons together
into a simple circuit, -
4:12 - 4:15you can generate rhythmic patterns
of activity, -
4:15 - 4:18feedback loops that ramp up
or shut down a signal, -
4:18 - 4:20coincidence detectors,
-
4:20 - 4:23and disinhibition,
-
4:23 - 4:27where two inhibitory neurons
can actually activate another neuron -
4:27 - 4:29by removing inhibitory brakes.
-
4:29 - 4:32As more and more neurons are connected,
-
4:32 - 4:36increasingly complex patterns
of activity emerge from the network. -
4:36 - 4:42Soon, so many neurons are interacting
in so many different ways at once -
4:42 - 4:44that the system becomes chaotic.
-
4:44 - 4:48The trajectory of the network's activity
cannot be easily explained -
4:48 - 4:52by the simple local circuits
described earlier. -
4:52 - 4:55And yet, from this chaos,
patterns can emerge, -
4:55 - 4:59and then emerge again and again
in a reproducible manner. -
4:59 - 5:02At some point, these emergent
patterns of activity -
5:02 - 5:04become sufficiently complex,
-
5:04 - 5:09and curious to begin studying
their own biological origins, -
5:09 - 5:11not to mention emergence.
-
5:11 - 5:15And what we found in emergent phenomena
at vastly different scales -
5:15 - 5:19is that same remarkable
characteristic as the fish displayed: -
5:19 - 5:24That emergence doesn't require
someone or something to be in charge. -
5:24 - 5:26If the right rules are in place,
-
5:26 - 5:28and some basic conditions are met,
-
5:28 - 5:33a complex system will fall into
the same habits over and over again, -
5:33 - 5:37turning chaos into order.
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5:37 - 5:40That's true in the molecular pandemonium
that lets your cells function, -
5:40 - 5:43the tangled thicket of neurons
that produces your thoughts and identity, -
5:43 - 5:46your network of friends and family,
-
5:46 - 5:51all the way up to the structures and
economies of our cities across the planet.
- Title:
- How do schools of fish swim in harmony? - Nathan S. Jacobs
- Speaker:
- Nathan S. Jacobs
- Description:
-
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-do-schools-of-fish-swim-in-harmony-nathan-s-jacobs
How do schools of fish swim in harmony? How do the tiny cells in your brain give rise to the complex thoughts, memories, and consciousness that are you? Oddly enough, those questions have the same general answer. Nathan S. Jacobs explains the concept of emergence, the spontaneous creation of sophisticated behaviors and functions from large groups of simple elements.
Lesson by Nathan S. Jacobs, animation by TED-Ed.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 06:07
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