Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!news.larc.nasa.gov!grissom.larc.nasa.gov!kludge From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov ( Scott Dorsey) Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy Subject: Re: computer life? Keywords: Survival, instincts Message-ID: <1991Feb26.173317.27604@news.larc.nasa.gov> Date: 26 Feb 91 17:33:17 GMT References: <8617@castle.ed.ac.uk> <1991Feb22.220125.20891@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> <1791@svin02.info.win.tue.nl> Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News) Reply-To: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov ( Scott Dorsey) Organization: NASA Langley Research Center Lines: 14 In article <1791@svin02.info.win.tue.nl> wsinpim@info.win.tue.nl writes: >In my opinion, a very important aspect has been omitted from the ongoing >discussion so far: The drive to survive. If we (or any other creature) >would not have an instinct for survival or an other mechanism to protect >our life, we would not be there. And if that instinct would not have been >supported by the means to detect threats to our life and to repel them, >it would be useless. Do bacteria have a drive for survival? They certainly have a drive to reproduce, which is a drive to keep the species surviving. But I don't know if bacteria individually have enough "intelligence" for it. I do know that bacteria are individually robust in the way that some computer systems are. --scott