Nature & Science
Distributed Intelligence: Problem-Solving in Slime Molds
A single-celled slime mold has no brain, no neurons, and no central control -- yet it can solve mazes, find the shortest path between food sources, and even reproduce the layout of efficient transport networks like the Tokyo rail system. This book explores how intelligence can emerge from a being that is, in a literal sense, just one enormous cell: how Physarum 'remembers' where it has been by leaving chemical trails, how it weighs trade-offs between risk and reward, and what slime molds reveal about decision-making, memory, and computation in systems with no mind at all.
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