Newsgroups: comp.ai.alife
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From: adavis@cs.buffalo.edu (Alexander Davis)
Subject: Re: Global Brain
Message-ID: <CwK0o7.77C@acsu.buffalo.edu>
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References: <plugge.160.2E814A6A@cs.rulimburg.nl>
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 1994 23:16:54 GMT
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In article <plugge.160.2E814A6A@cs.rulimburg.nl>,
Leo Plugge <plugge@cs.rulimburg.nl> wrote:
>OK, how about this one for a Minsky-like 'alife': the Internet.

Be ambitious: a mechanical pencil.

>* it's artificial (man made),

Yep.

>* many of it's consituent parts are without doubt alive in the
>  conventional sense of the word,

My fingers twitch and sometimes itch, and almost always do the walking.

>* it's rapidly growing,

I add lead once in a while.
(If that one's not good enough for ya, try the growth of my
   pencil _collection_)

>* it is rejuvenating itself (servers are replaced etc.),

See above.

>* it produces ideas,

Scribblings of nonsense, perhaps, but ideas nonetheless.

>* ideas are transformed into products,

Low D's on papers.

>* tasks are distributed over dedicated networks
>  (consituent parts on a higher level),

The front writes, the back erases, the whole thing produces text.

>* it is organized, but it is impossible to say who is in control
>  (sorry Searle, no homunculus),

My friend uses the pencil too.

>* it seems to have a some sort of self awereness
>  (when some part of the network goes down, it is 'known', i.e.,
>  repaired, circumvented, whatever),

When I press this button on the back end, it 'knows' to output lead.

>One can think of many more characteristics that were mentioned on
>this list as 'essentials' in alife.

Like the meta-essential: 'attributable to anything if you change the 
intended meaning.' That applies to...um...everything. Here, try
substituting most of those instances of 'it does x' with 'it provides
a means for doing x.'

>-Leo-

Alex's virtual pencil.
