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Human social interaction is also something built into their neural networks through thousands of years of evolution too. They have a neural network that reacts

Human social interaction is also something built into their neural networks through thousands of years of evolution too. They have a neural network that reacts to certain input with this output that evolution created as well. Of course, biological neural networks are self learning too, so the output gets tuned and optimized in situ just a little. But there's really no difference in that sense. Sure: you shouldn't anthropomorphize lest you end up drawing completely wrong conclusions; this was drilled into me as well. However, a strictly mechanistic view of something that is clearly software++ (biological neuroplasticity) might be overcompensating a bit too far in the other direction again. I guess what I'm trying to say is try to treat each organism as their own thing. Don't overestimate or anthropomorphize; but don't take an over-linearized super-mechanistic view either, since that can lead you astray just as much.

mewpmewp2 5y ago
Yeah, agreed, but I think one of the highest differentiations for whether someone or something is intelligent is how it learns about new unseen concepts and can use intelligence to adapt to a completely new environment. E.g. if that spider species was put to a completely different environment and during its lifetime it could learn to adapt to some new species mating ritual and fake out their female as well. This would make me consider the title to be valid "spiders are much smarter than you think".
- Cybiote 5y ago
  Portia spiders do demonstrate trial and error learning, quoting the abstract of [1]: > All species from the jumping spider genus Portia appear to be predators that specialize at preying on other spiders by invading webs and, through aggressive mimicry gaining dynamic fine control over the resident spider’s behavior. There is evidence that P. fimbriata, P. labiata and P. schultzi derive signals by trial and error. Here, we demonstrate that P. africana is another species that uses a trial and error, or generate and test, algorithm when deriving the aggressive-mimicry signals that will be appropriate in different predator–prey encounters. It turns out that the species with more variation in encountered prey types are more likely to rely on search, varying over possible patterns until a response is received. Other papers show their ability to learn generalizes beyond mimicry of vibrational patterns. They are also capable of deriving and maintaining situation specific attack routes and plans. I'll also argue that a fully instinctual repertoire, even without learning, should count as intelligence if flexibly deployed. Consider: despite an inability to learn or adjust, a Nash equilibrium approximating poker bot or an Alpha Zero neural network can be described as encompassing a deep instinct of the game that enables intelligent action selection. [1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10164-010-0258-5 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10164-010-0258-5

mewpmewp2 5y ago

Yeah, agreed, but I think one of the highest differentiations for whether someone or something is intelligent is how it learns about new unseen concepts and can use intelligence to adapt to a completely new environment. E.g. if that spider species was put to a completely different environment and during its lifetime it could learn to adapt to some new species mating ritual and fake out their female as well. This would make me consider the title to be valid "spiders are much smarter than you think".

Cybiote 5y ago
Portia spiders do demonstrate trial and error learning, quoting the abstract of [1]: > All species from the jumping spider genus Portia appear to be predators that specialize at preying on other spiders by invading webs and, through aggressive mimicry gaining dynamic fine control over the resident spider’s behavior. There is evidence that P. fimbriata, P. labiata and P. schultzi derive signals by trial and error. Here, we demonstrate that P. africana is another species that uses a trial and error, or generate and test, algorithm when deriving the aggressive-mimicry signals that will be appropriate in different predator–prey encounters. It turns out that the species with more variation in encountered prey types are more likely to rely on search, varying over possible patterns until a response is received. Other papers show their ability to learn generalizes beyond mimicry of vibrational patterns. They are also capable of deriving and maintaining situation specific attack routes and plans. I'll also argue that a fully instinctual repertoire, even without learning, should count as intelligence if flexibly deployed. Consider: despite an inability to learn or adjust, a Nash equilibrium approximating poker bot or an Alpha Zero neural network can be described as encompassing a deep instinct of the game that enables intelligent action selection. [1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10164-010-0258-5 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10164-010-0258-5