From a Blueberry's Blue (and Unexpected Camouflage) to the Heart of Chaos
What today's microscopic view of a blueberry taught me about embracing AI's uncertainty
Lately, I've been receiving a good deal of encouraging feedback on "Chaos Detective." It's quite something to see how the idea of a playful exploration of uncertainty is finding its place. But sparks of inspiration, as we know, can come from the most unexpected directions. Being a curious person – and by now, as you read this, that should be clear (right?) – the most fruitful connections sometimes arise from an unforeseen entanglement. Just today, while delving into some reading on blueberries, a discovery struck me profoundly.
I read that their characteristic colour, "that blue which deceives evolution," isn't intrinsic to the pulp, which is dark purple. The vibrant blue we see is the work of an incredibly thin layer of microscopic wax on their surface, just a few micrometres thick, which selectively reflects blue light. An almost invisible detail, yet it has been a fundamental driver in millions of years of co-evolution with birds.
This notion, so fresh in my mind, instinctively drew me to my BRESSER Researcher LCD Digital Microscope (equipped with the Sony IMX206 16MP sensor, an instrument that never ceases to offer new perspectives). And so, just a few hours ago, I placed a simple blueberry under its lenses. Fueled by this new awareness of the "blue illusion," every layer I observed today took on a completely new depth of meaning.
Under the BRESSER's objective, the outer surface transformed. And right beneath it, or perhaps it was the skin itself in certain sections, I glimpsed, just this morning, an incredible texture – almost a feline camouflage with its dark reticulations on a reddish background, as if guarding a deeper secret. Looking back at the images I just took, some in particular highlight this kind of mesh, a pattern evoking forgotten maps or the dappled skin of fantastic creatures. Right there, in real-time, my perception of the "simple blueberry" was crumbling, opening up to far more complex, almost investigative interpretations. It was like touching with my eyes, in that very moment, that thinnest of films which mediates between the plant and its world – a film laden with hidden messages and unexpected mimicry.
Then, the exploration of the inner pulp, after making a thin section, also this morning. A vivid, almost animate, red-violet universe opened up before me, far from any presumed uniformity. There, uncertainty manifested in all its creative power. Rather than rigid, ordered structures, I saw spots and luminous patches, cellular formations that seemed suspended in a dense, mysterious fluid, traversed by translucent channels forging paths through more opaque zones. A landscape of almost alien beauty, where light seemed to be born from within, and where every form blended into the next. Each slight adjustment of focus on the Researcher LCD, each imperceptible shift of the sample, was an invitation to a new interpretation, a new "chaotic echo," just like in my game. I observed how this internal architecture, this organised and spotted chaos, might somehow orchestrate the production of that thin outer wax, so crucial for its existence and its deceptive blue appearance.
That blueberry, sectioned and magnified just today, thus became the protagonist of an extemporaneous, yet incredibly current, "Chaos Detective." And the beauty is, this ties in perfectly with what I'm trying to convey with the app. In the game, the player's input is the "problematic scenario"; the blueberry, this morning, was mine. And then, the artificial intelligence model, Qwen3-32B-A3B, takes the stage, not to give the "right answer," but to generate ten "chaotic echoes" – divergent fragments, unexpected possibilities, alternative paths to explore. The goal isn't to "solve" a case, just as it wasn't to "scientifically understand" the blueberry in those hours, but rather to savour the vastness of possibilities that spring from a single starting point, observed in its making.
And here, the connection with the "Preventive Chaotic Intelligence" theorised for the Custos AI Framework becomes clearer. The idea of scanning thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of future scenarios to identify potential "negative attractors" in complex algorithmic systems, stems from the same awareness: minute details, subtle variations in initial conditions (like the chemical composition of a blueberry's wax observed today, or a word in an AI's prompt), can generate cascades of unpredictable and profoundly divergent effects. Sometimes, these effects are risky and must be prevented; other times, as in the game or this very fresh microscopic observation, they open doors to unexpected creativity.
This small, very personal "experiment with the blueberry" experienced today, combined with the feedback I'm receiving, confirms for me that embracing uncertainty, playing with complexity rather than being overwhelmed by it, is a powerful key, perhaps more so today than ever. Whether it's tackling the ethical challenges of AI, creating, or simply marveling at nature – with its "felinely" camouflaged textures revealed just hours ago – there's always a deeper layer beneath the surface, a living, active "chaos," ready to unveil its secrets to those curious enough to look, here and now.
And, to quote once more that Zen kōan that resonates so deeply with me, and which today's experience makes even more vibrant: "The question is in the answer; the answer is in the question." Often, hidden right there, in the cerulean and deceptive – and surprisingly "wild" – lustre of a common, freshly observed, blueberry.
"Chaos Detective," a Personal Experiment Between AI, Imagination, and the Beauty of Uncertainty
Have you ever had an idea so strange that it made you think 'either this is completely wrong or it might work'? That was precisely my feeling when I considered transforming a rigorous methodology, conceived to pre-empt serious algorithmic disasters like entrenched societal biases or runaway misinformation, into a game where …
Discover more stories and reflections in my books.
You can also connect with my professional journey on LinkedIn.
I value your input. Reach out with feedback, suggestions, or inquiries to: cosmicdancerpodcast@gmail.com.
Grateful for your time and readership.