[extropy-chat] Pentagon-Sponsored Robot Race Ends As All EntriesBreak Down

Mike Lorrey mlorrey at yahoo.com
Mon Mar 15 15:39:25 UTC 2004


--- Spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:
> > 
> OK I just returned from the robot races in Nevada.  They
> were a bust, but we all learned a great deal.  After the
> less than impressive progress of the vehicles, we hung
> around and talked to the teams as they came in on trucks
> to the finish area in Primm Nevada.
> 
> When you are driving somewhere, what is your mind doing?
> You may not be aware of the thoughts regarding your
> driving, but clearly there is a great deal of processing
> going on.  So what is your mind's driving related top
> priority?  

Your destination is set ahead of time, and even your course is set:
i.e. how you get from point a to point b. It's why we have maps and why
one typically needs a second brain doing the navigating if travelling
to a strange destination (assuming you are not pre-navigating during
rest stops).

This is done in order to make actual navigation a low priority for the
driver, as you've said. What is more important is:

a) keeping it on the road/in the lane,
b) avoiding other motor vehicles
c) avoiding non-motor objects like pedestrians, animals, potholes,
inanimate objects, etc.

The pre-navigation thing is ultimately important. I've known people
who, driving to work, find a detour and, rather than get lost on the
detour, will just turn around and go home, like the veritable ant
losing the scent trail.

Having a singular focus on one task, though, is a very autistic thing,
which implies that any smart vehicle is going to have to operate a
neural network.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
http://mail.yahoo.com



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list