Comments on: Is the brain a reasonable AGI design? http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3626 examining transformative technology Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:23:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: J. Storrs Hall http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3626#comment-865818 J. Storrs Hall Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:39:14 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3626#comment-865818 Kev: You're definitely better off understanding how a bird works when designing an airplane. The basic planform -- wings and a tail -- works well. The bird's propulsion system, flapping, would lead to a very bumpy ride in a machine and thus propellors are a better choice for a vehicle. There are several other capabilities birds have that airplanes only approach and which would (will) be useful once our underlying technology becomes capable of providing them: taking off from a standing start without runways; flying through spaces crowded with limbs and other birds; landing on a perch. Reconfigurable wings for different flight regimes. Note that the brothers Wright spent a lot of time watching birds, which gave them the idea for their great innovation, wing-warping, which made workable planes possible. Given its "design goals", a bird is an excellent design for a flying machine. Given different goals and a different implementation technology, we get airplanes. But we do get them. Kev: You’re definitely better off understanding how a bird works when designing an airplane. The basic planform — wings and a tail — works well. The bird’s propulsion system, flapping, would lead to a very bumpy ride in a machine and thus propellors are a better choice for a vehicle. There are several other capabilities birds have that airplanes only approach and which would (will) be useful once our underlying technology becomes capable of providing them: taking off from a standing start without runways; flying through spaces crowded with limbs and other birds; landing on a perch. Reconfigurable wings for different flight regimes.
Note that the brothers Wright spent a lot of time watching birds, which gave them the idea for their great innovation, wing-warping, which made workable planes possible.
Given its “design goals”, a bird is an excellent design for a flying machine. Given different goals and a different implementation technology, we get airplanes. But we do get them.

]]> By: Al Fin http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3626#comment-865809 Al Fin Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:18:19 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3626#comment-865809 Very interesting article. Thanks for pointing it out. Very interesting article. Thanks for pointing it out.

]]> By: Kevembuangga http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3626#comment-865794 Kevembuangga Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:00:19 +0000 http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=3626#comment-865794 <i>Is the brain a reasonable AGI design?</i> Is a bird a reasonable plane design? Is the brain a reasonable AGI design?

Is a bird a reasonable plane design?

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