Can robots become self-aware?

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

I wasn't disagreeging-I was just calling some facts to your attention. At the moment, there is no consensus on why these problems exist, correct?

[Mastermind]

Clones degenerate because the DNA is from an adult animal. since you're inserting adult dna into a baby animal(well, zygote, whatever), that animal will die when the adult was supposed to die(naturally speaking, of course).

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

That could be part of the problem-one of the problems with DNA is that after being copied over and over as cells divide in a human, the ends of the helix, where there is a section meant to protect the DNA (I can't remember what it is, whether a structure of some sort or extra nucleotides), wears out....one of the possible culprits of aging.

[Felgar]

http://www.koko.org/world/

Interesting...

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

http://www.koko.org/world/

It's amazing how obviously stupid people are...I just read to the bottom where the purpose of the program is-which is to understand how humans evolved the ability to communicate . It's funny....if gorillas are millions of years older than humans...why can't they talk at all, and why can the new humans talk so well and how is it that there brains are wired from a random process to learn languages? If I can get past the annoyance caused by reading the dilluted thoughts of an evolutionist...what he says is usually pretty funny....Sagan I've heard is a great bundle of laughs if you read some of the stupid things he's said...I've read only one thing from him...and it was rather good.

WOW, DID I get off track.

[Mastermind]

there is an article on koko on this site...

[Prodigal Son]

it's amazing how obviously stupid people are...

i agree, the article was awesome and highly informative...until the evolution rubbish.

[BobSmith]

Perhaps the fact that gorillas have different vocal chords to humans explains why gorillas haven't evolved speach no?

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

One, the tounge of a gorrila is flat in the back, while a human's has a different shape (look in the mirror to see what it looks like, it's more curved...), which allows humans to form sounds....two, the human brain is pre-wired to be able to learn a language....three, languages do not evolve....the opposite is true-they are becoming more simple, not more complex (and they can be traced back to where Noah most likely landed, eastern Turkey, right?). Grunts don't turn into words, which won't turn into sentences... The difference between gorrilas and humans is not a matter of degrees, but of kind. It's not that gorrilas are anywhere near to learning a language, while humans have mastered it....gorrilas don't have a language, and humans do. It's a matter of apples and oranges....not small oranges and bigger oranges.

[BobSmith]

We are hominids, gorillas are apes. Apes and hominids shared a common ancestor long ago. Since then we have adapted differently so it is no wonder that we are different in many regards.

We are the only surviving hominid primate species. Many others once existed (neandertal, homo erectus, etc) but we are the only ones left.

Apes cannot use language like us, but they also cannot walk upright or use tools. But last abilities do appear in the fossil record - developing on the hominid lineage.

There obviously is little evidence of language evolution due to it being impossible to fossilise, but in all likelyhood language is another ability (like the two above) that evolved on the hominid lineage and has never been present in non-hominid apes.

So the answer to your question is that there is no reason that Gorillas would have language. Evolution would not expect such a thing.

two, the human brain is pre-wired to be able to learn a language

Evolution could have pre-wired it.

three, languages do not evolve....the opposite is true-they are becoming more simple, not more complex

Even if this is true it doesn't show that languages have always become more simple, their complexity could have initially been due to their random evolution and only now are we simplifying them with standards and rules.

[Felgar]

So the answer to your question is that there is no reason that Gorillas would have language. Evolution would not expect such a thing.

Did you read the link by colors?

http://www.koko.org/world/

I think it's also worth pointing out that whales and other animals have language also - granted, not nearly as complex but it's still language. Ever thought that maybe humans were created with language abilities so that we could communicate with God in a meaningful way? Same goes for the written word.

[Mastermind]

There is a rebuttal to Koko on this very site...

[Felgar]

There is a rebuttal to Koko on this very site...

Yeah? I wonder how I missed it... Can you link to it for me?

I was watching daily planet the other day too, and they did a wonderful article on the ability of chimps to count. Fascinating, to say the least. And there was the chimp who was a black-belt in karate, slept in a bed, at breakfast at the kitchen table, was a huge fan of chuck norris, and ran an alarm clock. Was a 20/20 report about 5 years ago if I recall.

[Mastermind]

http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/ ... guage.html

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

Languages do not evolve-they go in the opposite direction. You don't start with grunts, which don't turn into words, which don't turn into setences, etc. The study with apes seems to show that, basically, humans could not have taught themselves to speak....because, as you see, apes can be taught some basics, but they do not pass it on to others, and when they die, so did all the years of teaching. A child has to be taught by a superior how to talk-and must be taught while young. Feral children or severely neglected children never fully get a hang of speaking...they can eventually learn what the caveman (man who lived in caves, possibly the outcasts) supposedly knew-"Me Tarzan, you Jane."