For Northwestern University neuroscientist and engineer Malcolm MacIver, [a scene from the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey where Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins are chased through a New Zealand countryside] is an excellent example of the kind of patchy landscapeโdotted with trees, bushes, boxers, and rolling knollsโthatย may have shaped the evolutionย of higher intelligence in humans, compared to their aquatic ancestors. Specifically, it falls within a “Goldilocks zone”โnot too sparse, and not too denseโthat favors strategic thinking and planning ahead.
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“The basic idea is that open spacesโopen grassland, flat plainsโare just speed games, favoring the predator, since they are larger,” MacIver told Ars. “Closed spacesโdense forests or junglesโfavor simple strategies of running for cover. Using a complexity measure, we show both of these habitats have low complexity.” That complexity measure isย lacunarity.
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The complexity “sweet spot,” according to MacIver, is a landscape like the one featured inย The Hobbitย chase scene, or like Botswana’a Okavango Delta, both of which feature an open grassland and moss zones dotted with clumps of trees and similar foliage. “In this zone, neither speed games nor running for cover maximizes survival rate,” said MacIver. “But planningโby which I mean imagining future paths and picking the best based on what you think your adversary will doโgives you a considerable advantage.”
