But is it AI? Vignette #2

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October 14, 2003: Leading humanity forward. By A. Asohan. The Star (Malaysia). "[Professor Kevin] Warwick argues that it all depends on how one defines 'intelligence,' a task he attempted in his book QI: The Quest for Intelligence. 'To me, intelligence is a very basic thing. In my book QI, we tried to look at what is intelligence - human intelligence, animal intelligence, machine intelligence ­ and tried to get the basics of it. The conclusion that I would come to now is that it’s the mental ability to sustain successful life.' ... Of course, we humans like to pride ourselves on being conscious, self-aware beings. Cogito, ergo sum ­ I think, therefore I am, said the 17th century philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes. It’s our edge over the machine - it may process information much faster than us, but it is not aware of what it is it processes. That edge is no big deal to Warwick’s way of thinking. Indeed, he argues that there is no evidence that being conscious - the way humans are - is an effective protective mechanism."

February 18, 2004: Scientists tweak robots. By Kevin McKenzie. The Commercial Appeal. "Robert Kozma and Stan Franklin are University of Memphis professors working hard to give the next Mars exploration rover the brainpower of a salamander. It may sound odd, Franklin says, but the lizard-like amphibian is well suited for combing a planet's surface. 'A salamander does not bump into things, it doesn't fall off, it doesn't hurt itself as it moves around the landscape, it recognizes prey, it recognizes predators, it takes advantage of opportunities,' he said. 'It's pretty smart.'"

March 3, 2005: New research opens a window on the minds of plants. By Patrik Jonsson. The Christian Science Monitor. "As trowel-wielding scientists dig up a trove of new findings, even those skeptical of the evolving paradigm of 'plant intelligence' acknowledge that, down to the simplest magnolia or fern, flora have the smarts of the forest. Some scientists say they carefully consider their environment, speculate on the future, conquer territory and enemies, and are often capable of forethought — revelations that could affect everyone from gardeners to philosophers. Indeed, extraordinary new findings on how plants investigate and respond to their environments are part of a sprouting debate over the nature of intelligence itself. 'The attitude of people is changing quite substantially,' says Anthony Trewavas, a plant biochemist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and a prominent scholar of plant intelligence. 'The idea of intelligence is going from the very narrow view that it's just human to something that's much more generally found in life.' To be sure, there are no signs of Socratic logic or Shakespearean thought, and the subject of plant 'brains' has sparked heated exchanges at botany conferences. ... 'If intelligence is the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge, then, absolutely, plants are intelligent,' agrees Leslie Sieburth, a biologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. ... The new field of plant neurobiology holds its first conference - The First Symposium on Plant Neurobiology - in May in Florence, Italy."

February 25, 2007: Case's Dexter (the robot car) steers toward fame, fortune.  By John Mangels. The Plain Dealer (cleveland.com). "Dexter (a nod to 'dexterous') is an autonomous vehicle. Bristling with sensors, crammed full of computers, it's designed to operate completely on its own, with the goal of driving at least as well as a person would. Dexter will make its public debut this weekend at the Cleveland Auto Show. Later this year, Dexter's creators -- a brash, overachieving young team of more than 50 engineering and computer-science students and professors from Case Western Reserve University -- aim to win an international contest. ... Deciding how to program Dexter, the team confronted a fundamental schism in the artificial-intelligence community. It involves differing views of what intelligence is and how to try to re-create it in machines. The classic AI approach, with its roots in the earliest computer chess-playing programs written in the 1950s, attempts to assemble sets of logical rules that define any possible condition. ... New-wave AI accepts that rules can't cover everything. Its marching orders are more general: 'Do the right thing.' A cockroach is a good example of this approach. Its tiny brain can't comprehend what humans are, yet it knows to scurry away if we flip on a light or step too close. It doesn't understand reproduction yet can find a mate by tracking its odor. 'It's making sensible, intelligent decisions and acting on them,' [Wyatt] Newman said. 'And it's doing it rapidly. Not optimally, but optimality isn't the point. Doing what's necessary to survive is important.' The roach may encounter unfamiliar situations, but its ability to respond based on some general guidelines is good enough to get by."