Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #11395
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Bumper314@aol.com
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 15:56:07 EST
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: lobster
In a message dated 3/6/00 1:24:48 PM Mountain Standard Time,
rastein@dakotacom.net writes:
> But do those short lived insects learn while they are here? That is the
> question ...... learning or not. It (the bot) may still only be doing
> exactly what it is wired to do, nothing more. I don't discount that it
> interacts with its surroundings, but I am not so quick to say it is
> learning. My car reacts to its environment, runs crappy when cold, runs
> better when warm, but it is not learning, merely reacting.
> just some food for thought
I completely agree, as I stated in my other e-mail (which I dont think made
it to the list for some reason) is that insects are hard wired for their
environment, and we do the same for a bot. If you want to it be more able in
an environment, give it more sensors, ants for example have touch sensors,
light, temperature, and it can tell if its legs are stuck, which is basically
the goal for most of our walkers and such, but I am curious how insects can
know where to go back to like if a pile of sugar is on the ground, he will
tell his little ant friends and they will go to it, same with bees. I haven't
seen my photovores telling each other where the sun is lately
Steve
11396 Mon, 6 Mar 2000 15:57:26 EST [alt-beam] Re: gumby legs beam@sgiblab.sgi.com BUDSCOTT@aol.com note on gumby legs, i've tried some 8-gauge wire on my bot which wasn't
hardly stiff enough for good legs (it is a bit large, but still) walkers tend
to work better with nice sturdy legs that won't flop around too much. If all
else fails, go to a department store and buy some wire hangers, those things
are so stiff, its difficult to cut them with side cutters, and even harder to
bend them! again, it all is reletive to the bots weight.
-Spencer
11397 Mon, 06 Mar 2000 13:51:48 -0700 [alt-beam] Re: lobster beam@sgiblab.sgi.com "John A. deVries II"
>But do those short lived insects learn while they are here?
"Learning" as human beings put it is of no particular consequence to
mayflies and the like. The stuff that is doing the "learning" is DNA. It
really isn't terribly far-fetched to conceive of evolution as being a sort
of learning (an entire species, through time, learning how to best survive
in a given ecological niche, for example).
Generally speaking, we are all just extended phenotypes whose purpose is to
ensure the continuance (and improved survivability) of our DNA. With
humans, however, a new kind of memory (and thus learning) has arisen and it
appears to be changing the basic rules.
Z
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