Zoltán Stekkelpak

Unido: 15.jun.2019 Última actividad: 28.mar.2024 iNaturalist

I have been fascinated by plants from far-flung corners of the world since I was a child. As an elementary school student, I would eagerly mark the habitats of potted plants we had at home, or those my sister was selling in her flower shop, in my geography class map book. I vividly recall mapping the distribution of Saintpaulia, a genus of African violets, across its native continent. The thrill of discovering a familiar plant in an unfamiliar setting ignited a passion for botany within me. My imaginary expeditions at that time laid the groundwork for future exploratory adventures, spanning across continents.

As I traveled the world, I observed mainly plants in my favorite taxa: cacti, heliconia, orchids - until in 2019 I came across iNaturalist, which expanded my enthusiasm and interest to basically observe any life forms and my life became a giant bioblitz.

In recent years, the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the natural world. I'm excited about the benefits AI can bring to areas such as species identification, habitat mapping, and conservation monitoring. I’m also cautiously optimistic that a future artificial general intelligence will rely on training from pixels of life forms (like we have here on iNat) to provide humanity with profound discoveries around very deep questions, and it excites me to be one of the many eyes of such a system on the field.

Talking about deep questions: I have two that I don't find the answer to, starting with the easier:

  • Why is there something instead of nothing?
  • How can butterflies fly and even make progress against the wind? (Update: see https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.5315 for a clue)

🇭🇺 Szeretném, ha az iNaturalist minél több magyarországi felhasználóval és megfigyeléssel gyarapodna, ezért a felhasználói felületének nagy részét lefordítottam magyarra. A fordításról szívesen veszem a visszajelzést itt, a profilon keresztül írt üzenetben.

🇭🇺 iNaturalist Magyarország Facebook csoport (magyar nyelven): https://www.facebook.com/groups/738191560985128

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