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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · 7d

Always uniquely funny and inspiring. Here at one of the first conferences I attended as a grad student, the Animal Social Complexity and Intelligence conference in Chicago, in 2000. Thank you Jane Goodall.

Jane Goodall with the rest of participants at the Animal Social Complexity and Intelligence conference, Chicago, 2000

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Jun 4

bsky.app/profile/grf....

Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · May 5

🧪New preprint: “Uncovering complementary information sharing in spider monkey collective foraging using higher-order spatial networks” in collaboration with Ross Walker, @mattjsilk.bsky.social, Denis Boyer and @sandrateles-esmag.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2505.01167
🧵 1/5

Uncovering complementary information sharing in spider monkey collective foraging using higher-order spatial networks

Collectives are often able to process information in a distributed fashion, surpassing each individual member's processing capacity. In fission-fusion dynamics, where group members come together and s...

arxiv.org

Reposted by Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez

Andrew King @shoalgroup.bsky.social · Jun 3

New paper in @behavecol.bsky.social (link: academic.oup.com/beheco/advan...)
led by PhD student @marcofele.bsky.social using hard-won data from our amazing baboon team. Our @swanseauni.bsky.social press release:
www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office...
We introduce the idea of a "social spandrel".....

Baboons walk in line for friendship, not survival, new study finds

Researchers at Swansea University have discovered that baboons walk in lines, not for safety or strategy, but simply to stay close to their friends.

www.swansea.ac.uk

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Reposted by Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez

NetScience @netscience.bsky.social · May 28

Uncovering complementary information sharing in spider monkey collective foraging using higher-order spatial networks arxiv.org/abs/2505.01167

Uncovering complementary information sharing in spider monkey collective foraging using higher-order spatial networks

Collectives are often able to process information in a distributed fashion, surpassing each individual member's processing capacity. In fission-fusion dynamics, where group members come together and s...

arxiv.org

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · May 5

5/5
combined knowledge has complementarity: each individual fills in parts of the puzzle that others miss. We argue that the ever-changing structure of these groups helps them collectively adapt and make the most of their shared knowledge in unpredictable environments.

🐒 🧩 🐒 = 🧠

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · May 5

4/5
to share key information, but also enough unique knowledge to cover more ground. To model these interactions, we used a mathematical approach (simplicial complexes) that captures how multiple animals exchange information at once. This revealed 'gaps' in different dimensions—meaning the group’s…

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · May 5

3/5
track changes in their environment better than any individual could on its own. We studied how much individual animals' core ranges overlap, treating these overlaps as a way to measure shared vs. unique knowledge of food sources. Some range combinations strike a balance: they have enough overlap

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · May 5

2/5
Groups can often process information together more effectively than any single member could alone. In species with fission-fusion dynamics—where animals frequently split up and reunite (like dolphins or chimpanzees)—sharing different bits of knowledge about food locations helps the whole group…

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · May 5

🧪New preprint: “Uncovering complementary information sharing in spider monkey collective foraging using higher-order spatial networks” in collaboration with Ross Walker, @mattjsilk.bsky.social, Denis Boyer and @sandrateles-esmag.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2505.01167
🧵 1/5

Uncovering complementary information sharing in spider monkey collective foraging using higher-order spatial networks

Collectives are often able to process information in a distributed fashion, surpassing each individual member's processing capacity. In fission-fusion dynamics, where group members come together and s...

arxiv.org

1 1 2

Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Apr 23

Preprint: The causal role of synergy in collective problem solving. Great collaboration with DISI fellows @ketikagarg.bsky.social @culturologies.co, Zara Anwarzai and Hannah Dromiack

Ketika Garg @ketikagarg.bsky.social · Apr 23

New preprint! 🚨How do groups process information? What does it mean for part of a network to "explore" and part to "exploit"? How do we move beyond phenomenological correlation in our analyses of networks to a causal theory of collective intelligence?

Here, we try to answer these questions:

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Apr 9

With colleagues from our social complexity seminar, we joined the debate in BBS on "What is a society" by M. Moffett. We argue that a society can emerge from social interaction patterns without the need for establishing an a priori limit on who actually belongs to it doi.org/10.1017/S014...

Group identity without social interactions? | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core

Group identity without social interactions? - Volume 48

doi.org

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Mar 5

“Everything is political, especially the things that people tell you are not political. Those are the most political of all”

Kit Yates @kityates.bsky.social · Mar 5

"Yesterday I wrote a piece for the Guardian about my decision to step down as an Associate Editor at the Royal Society’s journal Open Science. The response has been overwhelming."

My latest substack.
open.substack.com/pu...

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Reposted by Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez

Alison Phipps አሊሰን @alisonphipps.bsky.social · Mar 1

Good stuff here from @bylines.scot “Take control of your own news feed. Create your own media stream instead of relying on social media algorithms. Subscribe directly to trusted news sites or newsletters and set aside time for intentional reading” bylines.scot/society/a-ci...

A citizen’s guide to taking action for political change

Instead of feeling frustrated and powerless when faced with unpopular change, try these steps to build momentum towards your desired outcome

bylines.scot

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Feb 20

This summer school is a life- and mind-changing experience for any early career researcher, student or postdoc, as well as a wonderful experience for artists and storytellers. I could not recommend it more highly

Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI @divintelligence.bsky.social · Feb 19

Review of applications starts March 1st!

Apply here: disi.org/apply/

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Reposted by Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez

Dr Dean Burnett @garwboy.bsky.social · Feb 9

No, Elon Musk didn't put a chip in anyone's brain, and we should not be terrified

theneuroscienceofeve...

A rapid-response post to a current article which suggests that Musk's brain-control abilities are waaaay beyond what they actually are

Like/subscribe etc.

#Musk #Brians #Neuralink #Science

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Feb 5

Thanks for doing this! can you please add me?

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Feb 4

Meanwhile…

www.euractiv.com/section/agri...

EU and Mexico seal updated trade deal - Euractiv

Mexico is the EU's second largest trading partner in Latin America.

www.euractiv.com

Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Feb 4

So cute

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · Feb 4

Stromatolites xkcd.com/3046

Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Jan 27

Great essay by @neurograce.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/neur...

Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · Jan 24

I wrote about the concept of agency (both human and artificial) in the year 2025. gracewlindsay.com/2025/01/24/2...

2025: Agency gained and lost

If you’ve had even a passing glance at tech journalism over the past few months, you know the top buzzword for AI in 2025 is agentic. Agentic AI (according to many think pieces and press releases a…

gracewlindsay.com

Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Jan 26

Don’t leave the agency to the robots gracewlindsay.com/2025/01/24/2... ht @melaniemitchell.bsky.social

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Jan 20

Trump threatens a global trade war. Europe must unleash a radical alternative | Gabriel Zucman www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Dec 4

“it can be easy to mistake the complexity of the mathematics in a theory paper for the importance of the new biological insight that ensues.”

Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Dec 4

“We can also use theory to ask the following question: how might a biological system solve a particular problem?”

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Dec 4

“for me as a biologist, theory is valuable because it enables us to ask which of our results are likely to be general and which depend on the particular characteristics of our experimental system.”

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Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez @grf.bsky.social · Dec 3

Insightful essay on the value of theoretical papers for empirical research elifesciences.org/articles/60703

Living Science: Theoretical musings

The best theory papers help experimentalists to identify which of their results might be general and to plan a path through the maze of all possible future experiments.

elifesciences.org

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