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<head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" > <meta content="http://www.deskshare.com/st.aspx" name="Site Translator"></head> Zoología Del Tráfico por: El Dobladillar De Matthew Frederick Davis Hay un parque zoológico secreto que funciona encaged a lo largo de los caminos. Son el líquido, los goliaths semi-visibles que rabian a través de las corrientes y de los pedazos del tráfico ordinario, con los tendrils efervescentes de cuentos milla-largos azotando detrás de ellos como dragones chinos. Integrado sin embargo por centenares de libras de acero, de cristal y de plástico, pueden pasar a través de objetos sólidos. Son limitados por los leyes de la carretera, pero no por cualquier noción convencional del tiempo o del espacio. Son animales agregados del tráfico: una casa de fieras de las bestias inesperadas dibujadas de los comportamientos que obran recíprocamente de muchos seres humanos individuales que conducen muchos coches individuales con muchas metas individuales, su actividad colectiva que da lugar algo con mayor presencia, energía y propósito que la suma de sus componentes. Adquieren un anfitrión de diversas formas, cada uno para servir un diverso extremo. Son verdaderos, y conducen entre nosotros. Preámbulo In his introduction to The Extended Phenotype (Oxford University Press, 1982) enthusiastic evolutionary biology cheerleader and Commodore-hacking pop-science guru Richard Dawkins invites us to consider the Necker Cube Illusion: a two-dimensional image representing two interlocked three-dimensional blocks in which the foreground and background can seem to flip back and forth as the brain fruitlessly seeks the "true" interpretation of the depicted space. This is Dawkins' starting point for a thought experiment in which he blurs the lines between species, their genes and the environment, calling into question the traditional boundaries drawn through biological systems to identify the relevant level of study. Al ingenio, wank: Miramos vida y comenzamos viendo una colección de organismos individuales que obran recíprocamente. Sabemos que contienen unidades más pequeñas, y nosotros sabemos que son, alternadamente, partes de unidades compuestas más grandes, pero fijamos nuestra mirada fija en los organismos enteros. Entonces repentinamente los tirones de la imagen. Los cuerpos individuales todavía están allí; no se han movido, sino que se parecen haber ido transparentes... Es decir si usted puede de-acentuar el organismo sí mismo usted está libre apreciar la idea de las charcas del castor como lagos artificiales generados por los genes del castor, o ver una tela de araña como arreglo de la seda dibujado por DNA. Extendiendo las líneas con las cuales limitamos el phenotype tradicional, definimos los nuevos organismos, combinando tecnología y los individuos en comunidades que la misma manera que los microorganismos antiguos que obraban recíprocamente dentro de las membranas del bilipid cayeron en lockstep simbiótico baila a encontraron las primeras células estables. Organelles, células, cuerpos, manadas: en qué nivel discernimos el animal está puramente una cuestión de foco. Esta idea del animal o del "estupendo-organismo inesperado" es apenas particular a Dawkins: El rodador de Guillermo Morton comentó en la idea en su papel 1911 "a colonia de la hormiga como organismo" en un tratamiento que es cada pedacito como fuerte pero con considerablemente menos elegancia del otaku que el manifiesto impreso -soundbyte del kelly de Kevin en complejidad de la colmena, fuera del control (Perseus Books, 1994). En las palabras del kelly: No hay nada ser encontrado en una colmena que no se sumerja en una abeja. And yet you can search a bee forever with cyclotron and fluoroscope, and you will never find a hive. So too can you examine a driver in a car and know nothing about the greater animal in which they both participate when the circumstances are right. Some of the applicable forces can be seen most clearly in the rarified environment of the professional race course, as explored by David Ronfeldt, a senior social scientist at RAND, in his 2002 paper Social Science at 190 MPH on NASCAR's Biggest Superspeedways, where fleeting moments of co-operation between rivals are necessary in order to win. Ronfeldt focuses in particular on the phenomenon of draft line formation, which is similar to the way flocking birds can share aerodynamic advantage. Como limaduras del hierro en un campo magnético, la distribución en grande de coches opportunistically partnering se dibuja dentro de patrones fiables de la macroescala a través del carretera: Una vez que la clase ellos mismos de los corredores hacia fuera - después de que diez a veinte regazos - es común considerar una sola línea del bosquejo de cuatro a siete coches que funcionan en frente, perseguida ciento o tan las yardas detrás por una segunda línea de coches, el resto de los cientos o las yardas delante de un paquete grande de los coches que pueden todavía funcionar en líneas paralelas pero están haciendo tan cortar en cubitos que... los coches de bosquejo que funcionan solamente, pegados a menudo peligroso entre dos líneas del bosquejo, aparecerán mandilar irrevocablemente posterior. Liberado de los enlaces de competir con formalismo, se llevan los animales agregados del tráfico, arraigado en simbiosis transitorias entre los remiendos individuales de los conductores que crystalise en los órganos de la bestia. But the circumstances have to be just right for one to emerge. The unholy Hieronymus Bosch-style concert of homicidal applied-shadenfreude that may characterise your urban, intra-urban or sub-urban driving experience is not ripe ground for ATA growth: too frothy. The sociological and scatological dances of the megalopolis rushhour, too, are beyond the scope of this article, and are at any rate most likely best explored with deep computer simulations using high-tech cellular automata tools with average driver profiles linked to real-world statistics of roadway usage coupled with an army of ten thousand angry ax-wielding orcs battling an equal number of obedient clonetroopers. Rather, this field is perfect fodder for the amateur ethologist, observing phenomena with a keen eye, an open mind and a sharp pencil. Y mientras que mucho se ha escrito sobre ondas de manipulación del tráfico, la dinámica de los atascos de tráfico y las fase-transiciones en densidad del tráfico, el tiempo muy pequeño se ha dedicado a la observación y a la catalogación del zoomorphia persistente del multi-coche. Observaciones Tempranas El autor primero era enterado de la existencia de ATAs mientras que hacía su manera a través del Hinterland de Canadá en un largo, impulsión a solas del pleno invierno en un cargador decrépito del regate sin radio de funcionamiento. debido a su inclinación peligrosa para soñar despierto immersive en ausencia de estímulos externos, él comenzó al parásito sus decisiones que conducían trabándose adentro detrás de otro coche con ambiciones comparables de la velocidad. Reservando una astilla del conocimiento para seguir las luces rojas del freno del coche del "plomo" para los cambios en velocidad o la dirección, el autor podía gozar comfortablemente de su trance mientras que era una carga fuerte del conocimiento del camino outsourced al otro conductor, haciendo el coche delantero funcionar como una clase de mecanismo de la detección temprana para cambiar condiciona (mounties incluyendo velocidad-atrapan). La noción volvió a allanar mientras que el autor luchaba un alquiler abollado del conejo de Volkswagen abajo de torcer, carretera de dos calles pote-agujereada de la selva a través del estado mexicano de Quintana Roo. Mientras que el viaje comenzó él se encontró cercado dentro de un desfile corto de otros turistas, todo el conducir sus coches de alquiler del aeropuerto aproximadamente el mismo tiempo en un paso vacilante, rompiéndose con frecuencia para procesar la oscuridad frondosa desconocedora a continuación. Temiendo lesión, el autor lateral-paso' de linea el desfile indeciso y condujo encendido en el murk solamente. Remembering his success in the far north, he latched onto the back of a local vehicle (a home-modded convertible Beetle carrying ten people, standing room only), using its varying speed as an indicator of road conditions. Unexpectedly, this move was noticed by several of the other tourists, who began to fight to separate themselves from the melee and join the newer, more surefooted pack that was rapidly pulling ahead... By the time the author had reached his exit the impromptu fleet of vehicles had become a persistent, homeostatic phenomenon. The fleet had quickly learned to manipulate the spacing between its components in order to remain permeable to faster moving local traffic while defending its integrity against more disruptive external vehicles. Pulsos de la comunicación significando cuando el carril que pasaba estaba claro ondulado abajo de la cadena con inclinarse concienzudo en el hombro de la grava, asistiendo al proceso de expectorating a invasores. Varios de los vehículos turísticos originales terminaron encima del intercambio hacia fuera por otros vehículos sin la oscilación del barco. Más adelante encendido, incluso intercambiaron al líder hacia fuera por otro coche local experimentado. Era un juego que traía, contribuyendo al bienestar de todos sus jugadores de una manera interesante, pero no era un ATA verdadero. Era una invención demasiado consciente a ser cualquier cosa más que un acontecimiento social espontáneo encantador. Usted ve, un animal distribuido con los componentes humanos puede ser muy sensible a las perturbaciones de dentro. Es solamente cuando son los hilos de rosca que están en conflicto de metas, del razonamiento y de la competición entre las mentes humanas individuales quietened en el ruido de fondo que el suelo puede verdad ser maduro criar una bestia compleja. Cuando los conductores pueden caer en un estado semi-hipno'tico y sus instintos de la manada asumen el control, las semillas se ponen para algo mayor. Habitat Mientras que hay millares de argumentos de cría del tráfico a lo largo de las redes pavimentadas del mundo, sólo una región que conducía se ha explorado extensivamente en este tiempo, en gran parte debido a las consideraciones presupuestarias. The TransCanada Highway is a nearly ideal environment for the production of large-scale ATA phenomena, due in great part to the simplicity of its shape: all cars are moving either westbound or eastbound, streamlining the goals of the drivers in much the same way as the shape of the Daytona superspeedway encourages drafting partnerships (see above). Also, because there are long stretches through lonely wilderness and semi-tundra, nascent traffic animals have a long period in which to mature before coming against obstacles like influxes of new cars or navigating around towns; and because the highway wends its way directly through most of Canada's major cities, it provides a handy litmus test for the homeostatic integrity of a given specimen simply by observing whether or not it makes it through to the other side of the urban area intact. While daytime ATA formation is not rare, it is under the cover of darkness that development can proceed in a comparatively unfettered fashion. This is due in large part to the more abstract, disconnected experience of interacting with other vehicles merely as points of coloured light. Familiar prejudices and stereotypes -- potential sources of destructive competition -- are smoothed out by the shadows. At least on the basis of visual impressions, a Volvo and a Camaro can enter a system as peers. Diminished visibility resulting from mild to moderate weather conditions can have a similar equalising effect, but when conditions become too severe drivers tend to clump into packs for safety, leading to pseudo-ATA fleets that are all too conscious social events (as in the Quintana Roo experience). Show me an autumn stretch of prairie transcontinental highway at twilight, and I will show you the secret zoo of the road. Typical Morphologies The most basic form of multi-car life is the Asipetal Caterpillar, also known as a worm. Worms begin when a stable solo vehicle spawns a linear, single-lane chain of vehicles composed of loose monomers joining at the rear (a closely related, but dysfunctional, construct known as an Acropetal Caterpillar grows by adding vehicles to the front of the chain, generally leading to destructive diffusion or autolysis). Short, lithe worms are the fundamental building blocks of healthy ATA tissue. Perverse, long-form worms are the seeds of congestion and death. The second atomic element of ATA tissue stands in stark contrast to the worm, for it is a fleeting thing, and when it takes concrete form at all it is often manifested as a single car. The Apparent Coxswain is a vehicle that appears, to the conscious or semi-conscious mind of one or more drivers, to be a leader of the worm. When the Apparent Coxswain changes lanes, there is a higher probability that a majority of the worm will follow suit than if the change were initiated by a less trusted vehicle. In many cases each car in a worm perceives the car immediately ahead of it to be the Apparent Coxswain, leading to domino-effect lane-transitions; such formations have high homeostatic integrity because of the worm's ability to "find a new head" should one Apparent Coxswain be lost to the currents. (Please note: the Apparent Coxswain should not be confused with the Virtual Coxswain or the Napoleonic Coxswain, discussed below.) Formations that achieve such integration become Cholingers: Asipetal Caterpillars with tightly-integrated internal feedback systems of Apparent Coxswains, capable of transmitting information from tip to tail with high fidelity. Cholingers can slither to avoid torn tyres on the road, twitch around slow-moving vehicles, and even slip through packs of alien worms, wild axenes and other traffic froth to arrive on the other side intact. Of course, not all Cholingers slip through the strangers: sometimes they interact. Every Cholinger is either benthic or pelagic. Benthic Cholingers travel at a similar rate to the currents of the road, while Pelagic Cholingers travel at a dissimilar rate when compared to other traffic (typically a faster rate). It is possible, however, for a benthic line to be picked up and carried along by a pelagic cousin, leading to a coupled form. This is the first real Aggregate Traffic Animal we will meet tonight: a bilaterally asymmetrical diageotrope known as the Epiphysian Cyclosalp. Within the body of the Cyclosalp the individual Cholingers are transmuted into a pair of Librigenates -- stretchy, free-flowing tissue that is bounded in space by the relationship with its partner, the accelerating pelagic lobe sliding forward and the steady benthic lobe catching up in a slow-motion slingshot, compressing and expanding between the loose, senseless clumps of other cars. This accordion-like effect might initially seem to be a force tearing the animal apart, rending pelagic from benthic -- and this is indeed what might happen in too rarified an atmosphere -- but when presented with obstacles of any kind, the Librigenates that comprise the Cyclosalp fall back on their Cholinger heritage of local integrity, crystallising en masse to navigate the hazard. Unfettered, the Epiphysian Cyclosalp is like half a butterfly, its riparian body gilded by a slowly flapping wing of accelerating, gliding Librigenates ebbing and flowing in a stately round. Its insides whorl as partners switch places, benthic turning briefly pelagic, pacer cars joining a rippling pulse of local inertia forward, headlights cross-sweeping. It is beyond the scope of this article to detail the myriad circumstances that provide seed for the profitable entanglement of multiple Cyclosalpic streams. So diverse are the possibilities that we could fill a Biblical tome without scratching the surface, without revealing the common thread of simplicity upon which the complexity hinges. Suffice to say the larger clade includes such varied forms as the whiplashing Epinastic Tricyclosalp, the many-fingered Dicyclosalp Fimbriatum, and the diaphanous, fleeting wonder of the mile-long Merosporangic Super-Cyclosalp... Of course, not all Asipetal Caterpillars grow up to become stately Cholingers; instead, they lock into Lego-like bricks of uniform properties called Pycnoblastoids. While short-lived Apiculate Pycnoblastoids (in which the Apparent Coxswain is always the most forward car) are more common, it is the more flexible Laxiflorous Pycnoblastoid (in which the Apparent Coxswain is any car except that most forward) that lives a more fruitful life. For instance, consider the case of a typical composite entity like a Tripycnoblastic Oomycotum, in which independent pycnoblasts jockey for position internally directly or by proxy through one or more Napoleonic Coxswains (that is, drivers who suffer from the delusion that they are single-handedly responsible for steering/leading their local sub-structure). The domino-line behaviour of an Apiculate Pycnoblastoid makes it too brittle to survive the stresses of being permeated by a competing pycnoblast, whereas the comparatively elastic structure of the Laxifloroid -- imparted due to the inherent time delay involved in co-ordinating with a mid-fleet Apparent Coxswain -- retains a perfect balance of rigidity and looseness, riding a line between orchestration and dissolution that makes composite forms like Oomycota possible. Pycnoblastic tissue is unusual in that it makes use of some level of awareness on the part of the driver that they are participating in a formation (though drivers are only likely to be aware of the local level of structure). When this awareness reaches a certain level the composite entity is usually destroyed by internal stresses, but occasionally a dissolving multi-pycnoblast will emit a stream of highly energised vehicles -- the Apheresoid Lirellate, a concentrated apiculatoid pycnoblast flung free from the miasma of death to rocket away, using for a coxswain the abandoned carcass itself. ...These are but the fringes of the zoo, the tip of the iceberg. We have not even touched on the sensitive antennae of the Stipitate Phototaxites fringed with Virtual Coxswains, pseudo-lead cars ready to be sacrificed to trip any trap, the chaotic wrath of the Biflagellate Ableptic Figmo and the fate of the cystidial flotsam locked within them; the weird rhythms of the Cacospysic Super-Barbicanoids and their elaborate dance of shifting coxswains, the majesty of the motorcycle-based Raging Fallaxoid; the menagerie of endless cancers that can grow from unexpectorated papillic granulomae, from cataracts of geriatric nektons, or from service-stations with badly planned driveways. Further Study The study of a new order of life is not without its risks, both professional (in terms of reputation) and practical (in terms of being maimed by mis-navigated vehicles). The amateur automotive ethologist must not only have keen skills of observation, but also the fortitude to persevere despite the slings and arrows of dubious dissenters. Like Leeuwenhoek's controversial animalcules and Pasteur's superstition-defying microbes, there will always exist a certain testudinal resistance to new ideas among older quarters. There will be those who doubt the very existence of aggregate vehicular life, or who insist that the zoo of the road dwells in metaphor alone. The opinions of such sceptics could be changed by a single night spent on a grassy hill overlooking a well-travelled country highway, watching the streams of red and silver lights merge and split, compress and attenuate, roil and interact, fatten and reproduce... Watch the roads, and see the zoo for yourself. There is no denying its patterns of insectile purpose, its myriad variations in anatomy and configuration, or the orchestrated madness of the low-cost petroleum feeding frenzy. Your own mind, honed by thousands of generations of natural selection to recognise life from non-life, will tell you it is true; the disciplines of careful observation and meticulous classification will tell you how, and why. Open your eyes, and witness an untapped world. <table width=100% cellpadding=8 cellspacing=0 border=0 bgcolor=#dddddd><tr><td> Sobre El Autor Matthew Hemming is an animator and amateur automotive ethologist based in Toronto, Canada. <a href="mailto:mfdh@quackquack.com"> mfdh@quackquack.com </a> </td></tr></table>