If you take a Petri dish, castor oil and some ball bearings and put all in an electric field, you might happen to spot an interesting behavior: self-assembling wires who appear to be almost alive
[Stanford Complexity Group: buff.ly/3utG23e]
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they apply 20 kV for this effect. makes it visible macroscopically, but at 1/20,000th of the length scale, similar dynamics occur at ⪅ 1 volt (~biochemically accessible voltage)
wondering why this seems like neurons connecting? same math same dynamics
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This video by dr Lila Landowski shows two neurons sensing one another and connecting in a petri dish. They use webbed hand-like structures and the finger like projections help decide which direction to grow in [video + read more: buff.ly/3nzeTLB]
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And lightning.
Probably a generic fractal effect here. Something like bejan constructal law. These patterns probably minimize some sort of action-like quantity.


