On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 08:23:33AM -0400, Roger Clough wrote: > Hi Russell Standish > > > Life cannot survive without making choices, > like where to go next. To avoid an enemy. To get food. > > This act of life obviously requires an autonomous choice. > Nobody can make it for you. It can't be pre-programmed. > > Free autonomous choice is a description in my view of intelligence. > > QED >
The algorithm employed by certain bacteria is to travel in a straight line if nutrient concentration is below a certain threshold, and to tumble randomly if the nutrient concentration is above a certain threshold. Why is this effective? Ballistic motion (straight line case) exhibits <\Delta x> proportional to <\Delta t> (average position change is proportional to time), so its a good way to somewhere where resources are more plentiful. By contrast chaotic motion has <\Delta x> proportional to <sqrt\Delta t>, which means you stick around longer and hoover up more of the good stuff. Is this autonomous? You bet. Is it living? Yes - it's bacteria, although a robot doing the same thing would not necessarily be living. Is it intelligent? - nup. Cheers -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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.
