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They managed to run a feedback loop between the full 127,400 neuron network in the biological connectome to the physical simulation, with feedback from proprioceptive signals received by the model "fly" in the simulation producing feedback spile trains in the simulation, and THEY GOT RESULTS (again, see alt text of screencap: it's too verbose for a toot):
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The experimenters then went on to hook up their Drosophila connectome to an anatomically detailed Drosophila body model within an open-source physics engine that "uses generalized coordinates and constraint-based contact dynamics to simulate rigid-body systems with high fidelity" including joint and antennae modeling and accurate modeling of surface adhesion—and compound eye simulation.
Lots of *really* interesting insights here.
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Sigh.
So it turns out we've mapped the neural connectome of Drosophila *and simulated it in silico*.
Pop-sci explainer here:
Key quote: "The step from a complete connectome to a working computational brain model is not trivial." And there's an even more important finding in this screenshot (alt text via OCR):
"The wiring is the computation".
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@Gargron I'm willing to guess that machine translation of prose may serve two uses: firstly, as an assist for human translators (by preparing a very rough first cut, which they then have to refine), and secondly, as an assist for human editors in figuring out which foreign-language-works to pay a human translator (with or without AI assistance) to work on (translation costs money: knowing where to spend it is important). But those are assistive roles, not human-replacing ones.
@jernej__s @Menhit Getting her out of the cat carrier again without suffering terminal exsanguination!
@PizzaDemon Phone typing in a taxi moving over cobblestones ain't great!
Home now: @Menhit was NOT amused. Seems in fine health, except her weight came in at only 1.9kg, down from 3.2kg in a year—I'm certain this is a weighing error but we couldn't get a second reading at the vet so will try to do one at home.
That cat carrier is about to be replaced: it's 10 years old and the plastic is getting worryingly brittle.
Guess who's going to the vet? (Annual checkup, no biggie)
@mattblaze In general, novels only get retitled because of a marketing issue. I had one changed because it was much too close to a major-selling novel that had just come out recently (they wanted to avoid confusion). Another because google searches for it were being swamped by hits on a big Hollywood movie (both had an uncommon word in the title). This sort of thing is annoying but understandable.
@mattblaze @quinn That's really not uncommon in news publications. The owner only reads the headlines so the editors won't get shouted at for printing something that annoys the owner as long as it's got a prejudice-confirming title.
#ScribesAndMakers day 6: How do you choose a title for your book?
Usually the title comes first, and dictates the book to me. Rarely, the book comes first and I just slap any old title on it before sending it to my agent.
Either way, it doesn't matter: per contract, the publisher has final say over what the book is titled on publication (and the cover and marketing copy). Although they only request a title change about 10% of the time and usually go with my second choice.
#WritersCoffeeClub Mar 5: How do you make sure you don't leave plot holes?
Apply Torvald's Law (of software development): with enough eyes, all bugs are transparent.
But really, you can never be certain there are no plot holes: I just try to revise everything enough that the obvious ones get eliminated before the book goes to my agent. (Even so, plot holes emerging from subtle implications of world-building mistakes remain murderously hard to see.)
No, the future is Eight Track and Betamax!
RE: https://mastodon.social/@kottke/116171310498212438
Mad cow disease.
@davidsirota The Boomers "benefited" from two medical phenomena more than any generation before or since:
a) Antibiotics
b) Chronic lead poisoning by inhalation
I think this explains a lot …
#PennedPossibilities 946
Do any of your characters have food allergies or sensitivities?
Unless it's a significant contributor to the plot of the story, I would treat characters' food issues the way I treat describing their bathroom habits: don't describe interruptions that deral the story and may be distasteful or unpleasant for some readers.
But if a protagonist is deathly allergic to wasp stings and has to escape a pursuer by running through woods where there's a nest … that's legit plot!
@IanAMartin It's one of those years!
#WritersCoffeeClub Mar 1st, What is the fundamental goal you seek to achieve with your current WIP?
To continue to earn a living as a working novelist.
Beyond that: to mercilessly mock the messianic singularity/AI religious beliefs of our tech billionaire overlords, using fiction as a weapon. And also to entertain my readers.
Really, do I need anything more? (I've got a load of contributory goals, but those are the big ones. EDIT: and to write a kick-ass sequel to the book I just delivered.)
@lisyarus Why no Teapotohedron? (The Platonic ideal of the Utah Teapot)