4 ms·

Is "natural" the right word when a robot is involved?

• tialaramex 5y ago
  We conventionally use artificial selection to mean only cases where we decided what we wanted. e.g. artificial selection is why chickens and cows are how they are today, likewise most types of dog but not why the type of spiders that live in my home are the way they are even though that is an adaptation forced by man-made environmental changes. So I think it's crucial here that the goals are external, and it's just natural selection if the goal is merely "Survive and reproduce" and the selecting factors happen to be man-made. Weeds that evolve to hide from an AI weed zapper thus aren't artificial selection. Unless there's some comic book bad guy who decides to engineer such a thing. A crucial difference in outcome here is that Mother Nature doesn't give a shit. Where there's a natural equilibrium, Ma doesn't ensure neither side wins. The wolves could become perfect predators, kill all their prey and then starve to death wiping out both groups. Mother Nature doesn't give a shit. But because we have an actual goal, outcomes that defy our goal are unacceptable and we'll tweak the selection process. That's what happened with dog breeds where the "preferred" type characteristics were so unhealthy that they're basically a death sentence.