Coming to you soon. The amazing Rat-o-brain. (pat. pending)

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:45 pm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/07 ... flies_jet/

But what if at some point the brains figure out we don't give a rat's a** what happens to them and they get mad and head back to base fully loaded.

The slippery slope to Blade Runner starts here.

roid · Post by **roid** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:10 am

neat.
we have talked about this in the DBBcafe a lot in the past. hopefully they get some interesting observations outof watching them there neurons do their thing.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:29 pm

"watching them neurons do their thing."

Perhaps a few of your neurons could use some help doing their thing.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:31 am

...

nan de?

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:08 am

You sound like you are from Wisconsin.

roid · Post by **roid** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:52 pm

no, i'm from Western Australia, but i guess USA was what i was going for. i didn't in my wildest dreams forsee your reaction.

things would work a lot better around here if people stopped trying to find reasons to hate everybody else. it's really beginning to bother me.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 8:09 pm

I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment, roid.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:05 am

Heh, don't take things so seriously. I'm just doing my part in stopping the spread of the local redneck English plague.

Believe me, how often I her "them - there" "I says" and various others, I'm just trying to help you not look stupid. If English isn't your first language then its not a problem, but if it is your first language some people might think "I thinks them there downunder folk aint real keen don'cha think Bubba?"

mikem · Post by **mikem** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:12 am

This smacks of SkyNet to me...

The movies have taught us that super-intelligent beings rise up and kill all humans.. you'd think these people would know better

Vertigo 99 · Post by **Vertigo 99** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:53 am

but theyre only rat-intelligent for the moment, so its OHKAY

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:14 am

krom, people outside of the usa talk like that to look like "harmless loveable stupid americans". (i can't find Winconsin on a map, but i'm ok with that).

it makes me look stupid, about as much as talking about "high tea and biscuits" makes you look prim and proper. to anyone other than an american, me talking like an american is considered to be jesting.

i need to carry around a "i'm not american" sign or something on the internet.

ps: i figured i'd analyse why i used that original wording. i was denoting a simplistic yet practical mind's view of the situation. i guess i thought of redneck-farmer america as being that. simple, but surprisingly practical. incapable of understanding the details of this kindof research, but capable of understanding why it (and by extension all scientific research) needs to be done.
for better effect it should be spoken reeeally slow.
(btw, even rural australians are the most layed back and slowtalking australians, i think it's just an outback-country thing)

roid · Post by **roid** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:40 am

Vertigo 99 wrote:but theyre only rat-intelligent for the moment, so its OHKAY

their not even close to that even. they only used 25,000 neural cells, i'm not sure how many cells are in a normal rat brain, but i doubt it's that low a number. also the 3 dimentional aspect of a normal brain would also be better than a rather spread out 2 dimentional dish. also brains are full of specialised components that specialise invitro - the rat brain cells were taken from a fetal rat but by the time a rat is a fetus it's brain would not just be a "group of neurons", it would already have specialised areas.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 12:20 pm

I think "for the moment" is the key phrase here. It seems silly to make the leap from a few thousand rat brain cells running a flight simulator to organic computers operating cruise missiles to android warriors operating as disposable killing machines. But a hundred and some years ago it was thought that a human could not survive speeds of over 20 miles per hour and mechnical flight was thought absurd.
I don't see that there is anything that can or should be done.I just find it a bit eerie.