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Coincidentally the news arrived just one day after the dog that learned 1000 words was discussed on HN http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2113830 http://news.
by Evgeny 16y ago
Coincidentally the news arrived just one day after the dog that learned 1000 words was discussed on HN
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2113830 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2113830
- We've clearly underestimated the intelligence of every animal we've ever dealt with.
We only ever revise our estimates of animal intelligence upwards.
- would you say we've "underestimated the intelligence" of, say, jellyfish?
Jellyfish question remains open, but underestimating the intelligence of the amoeba is even more impressive.
- stcredzero 16y agoAmoebas are often underestimated. What many geeks -- even those with a keen interest in biology and neural networks -- don't realize is that Eukaryote cell membranes are capable of impressive computational feats. Just pause to reflect: An amoeba's membrane can sense object and grab them. Paramecia and Euglena can navigate their environment and find food. Where is the computation that facilitates these behaviors happening? It turns out that much of it happens at the cell membrane. Guess what synapses are? Synapses are the same mechanisms repurposed for data processing. Seth Grant discusses this in this podcast: http://www.brainsciencepodcast.com/bsp/2008/12/6/surprising-discoveries-about-synapse-evolution-with-seth-gra.html http://www.brainsciencepodcast.com/bsp/2008/12/6/surprising-...