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There are lots of creatures that can swim. Most of them swim better than a human. That’s why it’s not very interesting when we discover a new one. In contrast,

There are lots of creatures that can swim. Most of them swim better than a human. That’s why it’s not very interesting when we discover a new one. In contrast, humans are arguably the only creatures in the universe that can think. Certainly we have never discovered a creature that can think better than a human. Thus it would be highly exciting if we discovered or created one.

netizen-936824 5y ago
>In contrast, humans are arguably the only creatures in the universe that can think. Citation very strongly required to back up this statement. I'm not aware of any evidence that this is the case, in fact its quite the opposite.
- herlitzj 5y ago
  Second. Not sure how "think" is being defined here, but even for a spatial/temporal sense of self or mortality I'd say that's probably an incorrect statement. Let alone the general notion of thinking. E.g. dogs exhibit basic thinking like predetermination, delayed gratification, etc.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jvanderbot 5y ago
I can see that. Its just not something I'm particularly interested in. I'm not an expert in brains. After taking a few casual courses I saw recommended here, and reading some of the books, I'm suspicious that our story about our own intelligence is somewhat oversold, and we may find that our intelligence is 99% mundane, custom-built automation and 1% story telling. But that story telling is pretty magical. Buddhism and Modern Psychology Happiness Hypothesis (which is more about brains than happiness)
ekianjo 5y ago
The human mind is so flawed I am not sure its a good model to build thinking machines.
- sgt101 5y ago
  no one has a good model of a human mind
  - smolder 5y ago
    Depends on what you mean by good, and what level of detail you expect. People certainly have developed accurate enough models to be able to exploit biases and predict & influence patterns of behavior in others.
thesz 5y ago
There are many humans that think better than, well, average human. If not in all areas of life, but in one or couple of them, at the very least. Frankly, one of reasons I visit HN is to find these. ;) Flattering aside, what fascinates me is the difference in thinking - a new approaches, not seen or thought by me.
cronix 5y ago
How does a creature proactively use tools to more easily prepare/gather foods without "thinking?" How does a young creature observe an elder doing something, and then copy it, without some form of thought occurring? It seems the elders are teaching the youth, and the youth are learning, but I'm not sure how that can happen without thinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cp7_In7f88 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cp7_In7f88

netizen-936824 5y ago

>In contrast, humans are arguably the only creatures in the universe that can think. Citation very strongly required to back up this statement. I'm not aware of any evidence that this is the case, in fact its quite the opposite.

herlitzj 5y ago
Second. Not sure how "think" is being defined here, but even for a spatial/temporal sense of self or mortality I'd say that's probably an incorrect statement. Let alone the general notion of thinking. E.g. dogs exhibit basic thinking like predetermination, delayed gratification, etc.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jvanderbot 5y ago

I can see that. Its just not something I'm particularly interested in. I'm not an expert in brains. After taking a few casual courses I saw recommended here, and reading some of the books, I'm suspicious that our story about our own intelligence is somewhat oversold, and we may find that our intelligence is 99% mundane, custom-built automation and 1% story telling. But that story telling is pretty magical. Buddhism and Modern Psychology Happiness Hypothesis (which is more about brains than happiness)

ekianjo 5y ago

The human mind is so flawed I am not sure its a good model to build thinking machines.

sgt101 5y ago
no one has a good model of a human mind
- smolder 5y ago
  Depends on what you mean by good, and what level of detail you expect. People certainly have developed accurate enough models to be able to exploit biases and predict & influence patterns of behavior in others.

thesz 5y ago

There are many humans that think better than, well, average human. If not in all areas of life, but in one or couple of them, at the very least. Frankly, one of reasons I visit HN is to find these. ;) Flattering aside, what fascinates me is the difference in thinking - a new approaches, not seen or thought by me.

cronix 5y ago

How does a creature proactively use tools to more easily prepare/gather foods without "thinking?" How does a young creature observe an elder doing something, and then copy it, without some form of thought occurring? It seems the elders are teaching the youth, and the youth are learning, but I'm not sure how that can happen without thinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cp7_In7f88 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cp7_In7f88