Robot tailors and robot consciousness

The factory was assembled lakeside. There were start up problems. And a fire. Flooding. An explosion. More flooding. And another fire.

Eventually, they could make simple electronics. When the colonists were informed of the situation, they voted to launch on schedule anyway. An amazing display of pioneering spirit.

Can you imagine going to live where conditions were so primitive, the most advanced video game in production was “Donkey Kong?”

B-9 aus Lost in Space © an Irwin Allen production
Donkey_Kong – one of the first platformers (БТРкО)

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

Were the colonists able to repair the factory?

Almost. So much damage had been done, they couldn't meet the original specifications.

They tried making an earlier model neural net. One that, in theory, could be built within wider tolerances.

In theory?

Everything worked except the final product.

Robbi from the series Robbi, Tobbi und das Fliewatüüt © ARD video (German TV channel) (Tambov)

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

The colonists never found the root cause of why the neural nets didn't work.

They didn't have the tools or expertise to fix such a subtle problem. Their equipment was more basic.

One of the engineers referred to it as “trying to repair a butterfly's wing while blindfolded and using a hammer.”

The Sojourner Rover from Earth, currently on Mars © NASA
Hell, if I had an extra asteroid, I'd pawn it to buy this outfit (Robot Spike)

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

When the colonists were trying to fix things, did they increase the length of the neural fibers?

Yes.

Depending on brain section, our artificial neurons are five to fifty times longer than standard manufacture.

That's… Incredible. How did they keep the neural nets from randomizing?

Unknown. The engineers were brilliant problem solvers. Unfortunately, they were also poor documenters.

Little Helper, Assistant Gyro Gearloose, creator Carl Barks © Walt Disney Corporation

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

Can you reproduce the results?

Yes.

Factories four and five are exact duplicates of factory one. They produce our type of neural net.

How about factories two and three?

Expensive learning experiences to find out ONLY exact duplicates of factory one produce our type of neural net.

Astro Boy (ie: Tetsuwan Atomu) © Osamu Tezuka

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

Okay. It's reproducible. Longer neurons mean more connections which leads to randomization. Unless…

Abby, what is the age of the youngest robot at this meeting?

Checking… The youngest robot here is 21 years on line.

And did all the robots here have about 30 to 50 percent of their neural net shut down and become inactive?

YES! Please tell me that's not planned obsolescence and I promise not to break any bones while hugging you!

Tobor the Great © Dudley Pictures Corporation
A similar neural reduction mechanism works in infants (with the exception of autistic individuals, who therefore suffer from “information clogging”). The embryo has a huge number of neurons, almost unconnected by synapses, then their number is reduced, instead they form synapses until the age of 14-25 (rasovariably), the number of which is directly proportional to the quality of intelligence.

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

After a big part of your neural net shut down, were your thoughts clearer? More focused? In short, did you get smarter?

Strange as it sounds, yes.

It's a neural pruning process. You can stop worrying about planned obsolescence. This is a natural function that improves brain efficiency.

Well, artificially natural. Naturally artificial?

Never mind. I know what you mean.

The Omnibot 2000 was toy robot manufactured by Tomy in 1985
Neural pruning
HOW DARE HE?! GET IN LINE, IRONCLAD!
Remember what Querty said about the cool nose? He sent the information to the other robots. This one, too, for sure. So they keep slowly and discreetly gathering information about their idol (Robot Spike)

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

Is this true? It's neural pruning? Not imminent brain failure and death? Hey! Nice dress!

Thank you. The design is from the White Pony Mall.

Sleeve is a bit much, though.

I haven't welded it yet. It comes right off.

Better. What were we talking about again?

Something less important than getting the job done. Oh! Not dying! That was it!

Robot aus Batteries Not Included © A Matthew Robbin's Film

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

It's a copy. The colonists copied.

I knew that neural pruning pattern was familiar! The data slab won't cut it. I need more screens!

Triac, if there's one thing I've learned, when the engineer working on equipment suddenly turns and runs away, you follow!

The Heathkit Hero was manufactured in 1982 and was produced until 1995

Robot tailors and robot consciousness

You are comparing our neural nets to a biological brain.

Yes. Look at the firing pattern here in response to standard verbal test one.

Wernicke's area. Speech comprehension. The pattern is close.

Now morph it to account for the topological difference between a square brain and a rounded one.

Exact match!

It's not surprising. I mean, once you discover the set up, why reinvent the inventor of the wheel?

Robot Archie first appeared in the first issue of The Lion, a British youth adventure weekly created by writer E. George Cowan and the artist Ted Kearnon © 1952