Friday 30 March 2018

#488 Life as a pool table - part 11

The concept of sweating
At around the same time that our robots start to talk, they find themselves living in a particularly hot part of the world. They're also now consuming large quantities of other lifeforms who inhabit the same area, rather than the dust they ate back in previous parts. To catch those lifeforms, they must chase them over long distances while working in small groups. Most animals have a tendency to overheat when running, therefore any developments that aid the robots' thermoregulation, such as sweating and hair loss, are inherited, as are any tendencies towards same-species cooperative behaviour. The robots become pack hunters, vanquishing their prey by running it to death over distances up to and exceeding fifty miles.

The concept of deliberate speech and the superego
The robots' new protein-rich diets fuel brain growth to the extent that they don't just sense sounds but they also sense that they sense them. Parts of their brains are now able to act upon this new level of sensory awareness and issue responses, creating basic group discussions. At the same time, individual identities are articulated within the groups, whose voices act as an external echo chamber for each individual's sense of self, while also comparing it and categorising it relative to the senses of selves of the other group members.

The relaying of the comparisons and categorisations back to the individual provide it with a superego in the form of stored memories, most of which the robot is unaware but which produce within the robot sensations that might conflict with what would otherwise be its own tendencies in certain situations.

At a biological level, the activity of neural circuits have been governing the status of individuals within local groups since somewhere between parts 8 and 9 but now each individual has more awareness of its own position.

The concept of cultural evolution
Back in part 1, we started out with an environment. A windy, dusty slate. Within that environment, the dust got blown around and started evolving. Now that the robots are able to communicate, we can focus on a whole new environment comprising the air through which their voices travel, as well as the mouths, ears and brains that create and process the sounds they make, translating them into thoughts and ideas and then back into words again.

In this new environment, new combinations of words and sequences of words representing ideas and sensations can evolve. Those that aid the robots in some way survive by being passed from robot to robot although there is also room in this new environment for words and ideas that do not benefit their hosts and yet will replicate nevertheless due to their own fitness within the environment, in the same way that the robots might not necessarily benefit the slate they walk on. They just have to leave it in good enough condition that they can continue walking on it.

To be continued

4 comments

Fizzfan said...

I wonder why we sweat when we’re anxious? I guess it’s all connected back to the fear response of being hunted?

Those pack animals must have had a few that couldn’t keep up, who subsequently made their own killings and discovered they got to eat the whole thing. Bingo! You lot can carry on, I’ll just do my own thing and hone my stealth skills. (I may be slightly obsessed with cats. Big cats about the house was on again)
Do you think some people are herd animals and others not? I have to admit to likening people to animal types sometimes.

I had to look up super ego because I assumed it was someone like Donald Trump. Didn’t know it was an early learned collective moral conscience!

Cultural and environmental evolution. Lots of benefits to looking after your slate. I think it’s instinctive, but what if you don’t have any, like in high rise flats?
I have considered them to be almost anti human sometimes. Maybe they’re OK if you evolved from a bird like strain of dustball? Yes! Maybe some were so light they floated a lot and developed wings!

I found this.....the first part of it, constructing the nest, was incredible.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0IaFXu2RiNE#

Good news......
A New Zealand company Perpetual Guardian, is halfway through a six-week trial measuring the outcome of staff working four days a week but getting paid for five. It could have profound implications for the future of labour.

What an altogether splendid idea!
I worked 5 days a week for 18 years until having my son. When I returned to work 3 years later I went part time and can honestly say that working four days a week is 100% better than working 5 even when you get paid less!
Work/life balance is very important, and with the retirement age being increased and robots taking over so many jobs, we’ll have adjust something.
I’m sure if we evened out wealth this could easily become the norm.
I can absolutely vouch for the fact that people would be happier and there would be far fewer sick days taken too!

And this made me happy soooo much I cried!:)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fj6r3-sQr58#

Profound Familiarity said...

I guess we sweat when anxious as part of the fear response, i.e. we're ready to run without overheating.

I think some people are introverted and some not. I tend to think of us as all the same kind of animal.

There's something good about living in the clouds but gods knows some of the council tower blocks aren't redeemed by it.

I'll save those links to take a look at.

How many days a week are you working at the moment? (I mean I know you're off but otherwise)

You cried? Are you in a sensitive place at the moment? It's nice that you got so happy.

Fizzfan said...

I work 4 days a week. It’s a good balance.

I have no idea what I cry at some things but if music’s involved, I’m a mess. I’m not an overly emotional person, so it’s a bit weird.
Maybe it’s something to do with seeing us with our guard down and going with the moment. Music does that. Like a glimpse into what we can be. Almost spiritual? Whatever it is, it’s definitely a thing.

Fizzfan said...

PS I’m not in a sensitive place. I cry when I watch fireworks, people being nice, winning medals and beating the odds. Its probably why I prefer to watch TV alone and limit my exposure to other humans. It’s a bit exhausting, but I’m otherwise quite normal:)