http://blog.elevenseconds.com/the-mysteries-of-evolution/ on exploration, introspection and creation Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:21:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://blog.elevenseconds.com/the-mysteries-of-evolution/comment-page-1/#comment-2023 What is Intelligence (part II) « blog.elevenseconds Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:47:39 +0000 http://blog.elevenseconds.com/?p=795#comment-2023 [...] Is intelligence a necessary artifact of evolution? To expand on this, what set of circumstances make intelligence a much more desirable trait than other traits, and how likely is intelligence to emerge? Evolution deals with randomness — it’s a greedy random walk, favoring changes that increase the species’ chance of survival. What makes intelligence better than, say, a stronger set of legs? I have two theories. First, as life forms evolve and strengthen their physical characteristics, it becomes inefficient to continue the physical growth; either it leads to massive energy needs which begin to outweigh the individual’s abilities to gather food, or it leads to side effects inherent in the mechanics of a body (stronger legs may lead to worse injuries). Evolution, essentially, runs out of avenues to pursue and non-physical development becomes the most energy-efficient. Secondly (now I realize the two theories are related), evolution’s greatest limitation is its speed — it must act over generations; and with complex enough organisms the generation cannot be very short. If the natural circumstances favor quick adaptability (for example, a series of ice ages come and go too quickly for any single species to evolve around them), evolution must replace itself with intelligence. [...] [...] Is intelligence a necessary artifact of evolution? To expand on this, what set of circumstances make intelligence a much more desirable trait than other traits, and how likely is intelligence to emerge? Evolution deals with randomness — it’s a greedy random walk, favoring changes that increase the species’ chance of survival. What makes intelligence better than, say, a stronger set of legs? I have two theories. First, as life forms evolve and strengthen their physical characteristics, it becomes inefficient to continue the physical growth; either it leads to massive energy needs which begin to outweigh the individual’s abilities to gather food, or it leads to side effects inherent in the mechanics of a body (stronger legs may lead to worse injuries). Evolution, essentially, runs out of avenues to pursue and non-physical development becomes the most energy-efficient. Secondly (now I realize the two theories are related), evolution’s greatest limitation is its speed — it must act over generations; and with complex enough organisms the generation cannot be very short. If the natural circumstances favor quick adaptability (for example, a series of ice ages come and go too quickly for any single species to evolve around them), evolution must replace itself with intelligence. [...]

]]> http://blog.elevenseconds.com/the-mysteries-of-evolution/comment-page-1/#comment-1459 Evolution, genetic algorithms, and why AI may continue to suck « blog.elevenseconds Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:13:14 +0000 http://blog.elevenseconds.com/?p=795#comment-1459 [...] talked a lot about evolution before; I find it fascinating. There are many lessons to be drawn from the [...] [...] talked a lot about evolution before; I find it fascinating. There are many lessons to be drawn from the [...]

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