For the first time, non-human researchers are issuing policy advice on everything from the proposed border wall between the US and Mexico to the positive correlation of environmental hardship with material affluence.
The Plasmodium Consortium at Hampshire College, Massachusetts, is a policy research institute composed of 鈥渧isiting non-human scholars鈥� 鈥� members of the species Physarum polycephalum, one of the more common types of slime mould. A minor celebrity in philosophical circles, slime moulds are neither unicellular nor multicellular, but .
They move very slowly, via decentralised protoplasm tubes. Despite having no central nervous system or brain, they are excellent at solving complicated computational problems, such as finding their way through mazes. They are also and can appear faintly , like a creature in a 1950鈥檚 movie.
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Non-human scholars
Presented by experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats, curator Amy Halliday and biology professor Megan Dobro, the consortium has been showcasing the policy decisions arrived at by these 鈥渟cholars鈥� in conjunction with students and the local community.
Scenarios constructed around urgent social questions were modelled in petri dishes, often utilising slime moulds鈥� favourite food, oat flakes, and their strongest deterrents, salt and light. Keats summed up the findings in a series of letters addressed to appropriate federal and international bodies, all stamped with the official seal of the consortium.
In the border control scenarios, two countries were represented by slime mould snacks, one protein-based, the other a carbohydrate. In the first scenario, a Plexiglas wall was erected between the 鈥渃ountries鈥�. In the second, a 鈥渃ontrolled border鈥� was set up using a light source. In the third, an intermittent light source represented an 鈥渆rratically controlled border鈥�. In the final part, there was no formal border.
In his missive to the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, Keats writes that 鈥渦nconstrained slime molds鈥hrive[d] in the open border zone, suggesting that borders may be especially vital regions鈥�. Mr Trump: the slime moulds say don鈥檛 build that wall.
Another scenario models the opioid crisis in the US using valerian root, which distracts slime moulds to the point of starvation. Pure valerian root is placed at the centre of a petri dish, with concentric circles featuring diminishing amounts of the root mixed with escalating amount of nutrients. The final ring is pure nutrient.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the recipient of Keats鈥檚 letter on this matter, will no doubt be thrilled to read that 鈥淐onfronted with a binary choice between a highly-addictive chemical and a nutritionally-balanced meal, slime mold populations will consistently choose the former, with consequences that can be fatal. However when presented with a chemical gradient between the addictive substance and nutrients 鈥� equivalent to availability of gateway drugs in a human environment 鈥� slime molds show a distinct tendency to migrate from the former toward the latter, but not from the latter to the former.鈥�
The bottom line is that 鈥済ateway drugs鈥� shouldn鈥檛 be considered dangerous, but rather as potential off-routes for addicts.
Provocations not experiments
Clearly these scenarios are meant to serve as provocations rather than technical experiments. The pronouncements of the 鈥渟cholars鈥� are witty, but not jokes. The conclusion of the border control scenario 鈥� that the US government should 鈥渞eplace current national barriers with parklands鈥� 鈥� seems ridiculous only until we remember that historically, the chief centres of cultural and economic development were port cities, where cultures interact with the least governmental inhibition.
My favourite scenario tackles the thorny and topical issue that 鈥渕aterial affluence and environmental hardship are positively correlated鈥�. I don鈥檛 imagine anyone will be surprised to discover that slime moulds are leftists.
The project continues: Hampshire College鈥檚 Center for Plasmodial Research will host more visiting 鈥渟cholars鈥� into 2019. Current and forthcoming projects include an exploration of food deserts 鈥� areas where communities struggle to get access to healthy ingredients 鈥� and an on-going study to redraw a local bus route, threatened by recent cut-backs.
Any future slime mould historians will be adding these 鈥渞esults鈥� to earlier engagements. Back in 2010 Toshiyuki Nakagaki鈥痑nd researchers at Hokkaido University saw slime moulds recreate the Tokyo subway system, and in 2013, used them to find shortcuts through IKEA stores.
I may even have 鈥渄ata鈥� of my own to contribute. Hampshire College gave me a DIY slime mould kit, featuring Physarum polycephalum, oat-flakes, and salt. In a small petri dish in my apartment, my kit is even now working out the best way for me to get to the grocery store.
The is at Hampshire College to 9 March. The Center for Plasmodial Research will host 鈥渧isiting scholars鈥� of聽Physarum polycephalum slime mould up to 2019
