So once it made a bit of a home for itself on the circles it just wouldn't get off. (I tried tempting it with oat flakes and changes of humidity but it wasn't having any of it. ) No idea what the whitish stuff on those sporulations is, doesn't look too healthy from here, will have to have a good look at that later.
It seems that what is going on is that the slime mould is laying down a layer of sacrificial self upon which it is then able to form a self-regulating microclimate within itself. That might be bollocks, I'll have to have a good look at that later.
What is fascinating me here is the question of "where/how are we social and where/how are we individual?" Of course I am looking at the slime mould's being-in-the-world as analogous or similar or illustrative or something- of human being-in-the-world.
I hope it is clear that I am not thinking of this work as "Putting stuff somewhere and seeing how it react to other stuff". I am thinking of it as "Seeing how we all interact."
As I do this work with this marvellous organism I am claiming and feeling a strong kinship with it. (I care about it, want it to be happy, particularly given that I have hijacked it from its 'normal' functioning.) "Where do we stop being each other, Slimey?" I am asking, a question I also ask of my cat, my partner, my freinds, Heidegger and all that lot, the people I do my cleaning job with, the people I do my cleaning job for, the materials I use, the vehicles I travel in, the doughnuts I eat, all the individuals and all the institutions in all the world, the murderers, rapists, bankers, Margaret Thatcher...
Actually I am not all that keen on doughnuts, so there is not much of an overlap on the Roberts-Doughnut Identity Venn Diagram. As for the rest of it, it all has to be examined on a case-by-case basis, and constantly re-examined as new information comes to light.
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