On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote:
> We're not programmed to keep ourselves alive, we have to learn how to > do that ourselves. There is some vestigial programming from thousands > of years of hominid evolution, but that programming is actually > hostile to our survival now and we are having to hack into our own > diet to keep it from making us obese. A thermostat doesn't do that. Living things including humans are programmed by the evolution. Their program includes algorithms which allow learning. Machines differ in that they are programmed by humans rather than evolution, but they also can have algorithms that allow learning and alteration of behaviour based on previously unseen environmental inputs. The Mars rover is an example of such a machine. Machines aren't yet nearly as smart as humans but they are getting smarter all the time, while we aren't. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
