Re: Thought experiment with robots and monkeys

You could program them however you see fit, so long as it's done
consistently with all participants. For the sake of familiarity, I
assume we'd program them with the healthiest level of stimulation
possible. (except for the problem of isolation from our world) The
robot would be a "perfect" parent, however we choose to make it. Are
you predicting that some participants would become aware that they were
in an experiment?

I don't think they would know this unless they were told. I think of
Plato's early version of virtual reality: He imagined children tied up
by a fireside with their only exposure to the world being the shadows
made by others onto a wall in front of them. They would assume that
the shadows are the reality, and have no concept of the three
dimensional beings casting a shadow.

For the record, this thought experiment involves tremendous cruelty and
I hope it is never done with real people.


jgrisham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
jaberwocky wrote:
sorry about the sensational header, but its a serious question. A bit
off topic, but I'm impressed with the versatility of those who post
here.

Imagine a future, say 50 years from now, where robots can sufficiently
raise monkeys. (or children if you don't mind the ethics) So, we set
up an experiment to help tease out some nature/nurture variables.

Back in 1924, Noel Coward asked the musical question, "What's going to
happen to the children, when there aren't anymore grown ups?". Even at
that time, it was apparent that modernization was destroying the
family. Children didn't look to their parents for guidance and as role
models, as pre-World War I children had. Parents were quickly becoming
too antiquated to keep up with the booming changes in their society and
the "horse and buggy" wisdom of their grandfathers was so removed from
their reality, that they were truly living in a brave, new world.

The experiment of which you speak seeks to counter the influence of
parents, which arguably, isn't highly significant in our time, anyway.
Certain extremely abusive parents have a negative effect, but the
overall negative effect of our society tends to level the playing
field. As for positive effects, these have a tendency to encourage
dependency, basically reverting to a negative effect in the long run.
Unless you're Amish or something simular, parents are little more than
the people that finacially support you through your childhood and
generally would be better off, if they hadn't (You only need to visit
an old folks home to appreciate how betrayed and abandoned parents
eventually become).

Clone a couple monkeys (children) and set up very specific matching
nurseries for each of them. The cloning allows us to minimize the
nature variables. These monkeys are raised by robots using an
algorithm that is consistent and non-adaptive in order to provide
nearly equal formative environment. (This program would be optimized
by previous research) This program would minimize the variablility in
the nurture of each organism. Then: conduct experiments to measure
intelligence, problem solving, creativity, and even free will.

Would you expect the subjects of the experiment to perform the same?

Consistency breeds contempt, hypocrisy, rebellion and anger in the
young. 75% will conform (25% unthinkingly, 25% through emotional
support, 25% through lies and deceit). The remaining 25% will never
compromise (resulting in insanity, suicide, murder, etc.). That's what
I'd expect.

Would miniscule chaotic effects risk throwing them out of sync?

I wouldn't expect them to be anymore psychologically vulnerable than
everyone else, unless you programmed them that way.


JTG 9/15/06

Anyone
have ideas about what kinds of tests would provide greatest insight
into the nature of our existence.

I believe the experiment would help reveal a third variable in the
nature/nurture debate: chaos. We we would have to establish a
baseline variability in subjects, and then see what happens with small
tweaks in subsequent studies.

(please try to avoid the obvious religious/political/ethical banter
with this one)

.

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