[MURG] Re: MURG digest, Vol 1 #151 - 2 msgs

[king-yin yan]

 Randal A. Koene wrote:
>> The worm project is good for learning. But it's not a good experiment
>> since it doesn't aim at revealing something mysterious. It's more like an
>> exercise where you already know the answer beforehand...
>> Maybe there're some better alternatives.
>
>What??? I disagree. I think the worm project demonstrates a good
>scientific approach. It has the distinct advantage that it is explicitly
>verifiable and does demonstrate clear advances in research. As of now, no
>method for the (semi-)automated construction of functioning
>simulations/emulations of an organism's neural net from morphological
>specimens exists. Fortunately, there are good models of the worm's typical
>neural net and its behaviour is fairly simple to describe. That means that
>when we do manage to devise a procedure to create an emulation from the
>extracted data, success of the approach is immediately verifiable.

=================

Ed Minchau wrote:
>Wtih the c. elegans project, we want to see if we can
>reproduce the behaviour of the worm with an artificial
>neural net.  The degree to which the artificial brain
>reproduces the behaviour of the original tells us
>exactly how much we know about uploading, and what
>sorts of things we have to learn.
>
>It's fine to talk about uploading Sparky the
>Wonderdog, but until it gets done with simpler
>animals, we will not know what the results would be
>beforehand.  There may be some crucial piece of
>information about the way the brain works that we are
>missing with our pet uploads, and Sparky could become
>Cujo.
>
>The c. elegans experiment should be done because it
>provides a benchmark and a direction for future
>experiments.  After c. elegans, go with more and more
>complex creatures: insects, amphibians, reptiles,
>birds, and then mammals.  Work from mice to rats to
>larger animals (this is where Sparky comes in), then
>primates and ultimately humans.

Hi Ed and Randal =)

I see your points. You like making baby steps; I want to narrow
down the search space as fast as possible. I think the outcome
of the experiment is relatively predictable, you disagree. It's
looking like you won't change and I won't change. No problem,
count 70% of me in.

YET another problem with the worm project is that it does not
pay financially. It's the kind of basic research that's best
conducted by academia (public funding). Are you really content
with no pay? =)

YKY

[I'm not particularly fond of pets personally and I aspire to
morph into something not quite isomorphic with the biological
brain. It seems that this view is actually more popular than
the other way round =) Also I'm somewhat against animal
experimentation but I haven't figured out a self-consistent
theory of morality yet.

Cujo banned in the US? That's freedom? I don't like a lot of
things about this country... and then there're lots of things I
like. There should be something better than this...]



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