[ExI] People often think their chatbot is alive

[Dave S]

On Fri, Jul 15, 2022 at 12:09 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
>
> Dave do you ever ponder how the hell they do that?  It’s a mind blower.
>

Sure. That's why I read _Honeybee Democracy_, which explains what we know
about how hives work. Here's the blurb from Amazon:





*Honeybees make decisions collectively--and democratically. Every year,
faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new
home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective
fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as
world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible
insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and
effective decision making. A remarkable and richly illustrated account of
scientific discovery, Honeybee Democracy brings together, for the first
time, decades of Seeley's pioneering research to tell the amazing story of
house hunting and democratic debate among the honeybees.In the late spring
and early summer, as a bee colony becomes overcrowded, a third of the hive
stays behind and rears a new queen, while a swarm of thousands departs with
the old queen to produce a daughter colony. Seeley describes how these bees
evaluate potential nest sites, advertise their discoveries to one another,
engage in open deliberation, choose a final site, and navigate together--as
a swirling cloud of bees--to their new home. Seeley investigates how
evolution has honed the decision-making methods of honeybees over millions
of years, and he considers similarities between the ways that bee swarms
and primate brains process information. He concludes that what works well
for bees can also work well for people: any decision-making group should
consist of individuals with shared interests and mutual respect, a leader's
influence should be minimized, debate should be relied upon, diverse
solutions should be sought, and the majority should be counted on for a
dependable resolution.An impressive exploration of animal
behavior, Honeybee Democracy shows that decision-making groups, whether
honeybee or human, can be smarter than even the smartest individuals in
them.*


https://smile.amazon.com/Honeybee-Democracy-Thomas-D-Seeley/dp/0691147213

> A swarm of bees will do things nearly in unison.  The queen doesn’t
> actually lead them as far as I know.
>

The queen's sole purpose is to lay eggs. She's not a leader or decider.

-Dave
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