We are often deceived by the fact that Human infants are optimised for plasticity (I know this is arguable - but it's a reasonable theory) and for their brain to get through a bipeds birth canal (and subsequently grow). Look at lambs in contrast (I've been on a sheep farm in Scotland for a couple of weeks so I've had the opportunity!) Lambs stand up about 3 to 10 minutes after birth (or there is a problem). They walk virtually immediately after that, they find the sheep's udder and take autonomous action to suckle within an hour (normally) and follow their mothers across a field, stream, up a hill over bridges as soon as they can walk. Within a week they are building social relations with other sheep and lambs and within three weeks they are charging round fields playing games that appear pretty complex in terms of different defined places to run up to and back and so on.
This kind of rapid cognitive development argues strongly (IMO) against the kind of experimental/experiential training that a tabula-rasa nn approach would indicate.
Human plasticity and logical reasoning are the apex of other processes and approaches, I think that because we have so much access (personally through introspection and socially via children) to models of theses processes, and the results are so spectacular and intrinsically impressive.
I used to go to the SAB conferences in the 90's, they're still going, but somewhat diminished I think. This was where the "Sussex School" of AI had it's largest expression - Phil Husbands, Maggie Boden and John Maynard Smith all spoke about the bridges between animal cognition and self organising systems. I am pretty sure that they were all barking up the wrong tree (he he he) but there was and is a lot of mileage in the approach.
This kind of rapid cognitive development argues strongly (IMO) against the kind of experimental/experiential training that a tabula-rasa nn approach would indicate.
Human plasticity and logical reasoning are the apex of other processes and approaches, I think that because we have so much access (personally through introspection and socially via children) to models of theses processes, and the results are so spectacular and intrinsically impressive.
I used to go to the SAB conferences in the 90's, they're still going, but somewhat diminished I think. This was where the "Sussex School" of AI had it's largest expression - Phil Husbands, Maggie Boden and John Maynard Smith all spoke about the bridges between animal cognition and self organising systems. I am pretty sure that they were all barking up the wrong tree (he he he) but there was and is a lot of mileage in the approach.
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