where does good and evil come from?

drp

aa
Oct 25, 2007
2,273
2,628
http://current.com/items/90119924_robots-forming-human-like-societies-electronic-evolution.htm

A lone group of Swiss scientists have been using scattered LEDs, neural circuity, and an army of miniature robots to explore the very basis of good and evil. No, you aren't reading the back cover of a DVD in the "one dollar each, please get this trash out of our store" bin of your local blockbuster -this research is very real and very, very awesome.

Dario Floreano and his team at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology built a swarm of mobile robots, outfitted with light bulbs and photodetectors. These were set loose in a zone with illuminated "food" and "poison" zones which charged or depleted their batteries. Their programming was initially random, so the first generation staggered around the place like bunch of concussed puppies.

At intervals, the robots were shut down and those that had the most charge left in their batteries were chosen as "successful", and their neural programming was combined to produce the next generation of the robots. These offspring are downloaded into the same mechanical bodies their parents inhabited, forming an closed-circuit Buddhist system which might be an extremely efficient method of maintaining a stable population, but will provide a serious headache for any robot philosophers who might turn up.

Which could happen before long. Within fifty generations of this electronic evolution, co-operative societies of robots had formed - helping each other to find food and avoid poison. Even more amazing is the emergence of cheats and martyrs. Transistorized traitors emerged which wrongly identified poison zone as food, luring their trusting brethren to their doom before scooting off to silently charge in a food zone - presumably while using a mechanical claw to twirl a silicon carving of a handlebar moustache.

You might be upset by this result, scientific proof that those who say "Evil is utterly fundamental to human nature" actually understates the scope of the problem, there were also silicon souls on the side of the angels. Some robots advanced fearlessly into poison zones, flashing warning lights to keep other robots out of harms way.

At this rate of evolution, how long before we start to see other behaviors? Maybe polarized priests, warning other robots not to eat any food so that they may receive infinite food after they're switched off. Or actorbots, given huge quantities of food because they can pretend to be turned off by poison really well?

I've bolded the important parts.
 

kwagner

L2: Junior Member
Feb 28, 2009
92
6
Clearly, Good comes from the Blu respawn rooms, and Evil from the Red respawn rooms. Seems obvious to me. ;)
 

Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
aa
Dec 22, 2008
1,798
2,533
Kinda depressing that 'evil' just seems to be part of the game of survival for those robots, but at the same time logical and inevitable. Good read.
 

NovaSilisko

L42: Life, the Universe and Everything
aa
Feb 3, 2009
502
270
Simply amazing.
 

TheDarkerSideofYourShadow

L10: Glamorous Member
Apr 12, 2008
792
286
Man will obviously lead to his own demise out of the hubris that such demonstrations portray. Which is why I'm heading to see T4 today, followed by a couple of rounds at the shooting gallery, so I'll be ready when those little buggers evolve enough to take on Terminator/Matix like qualities :-D
 

MrAlBobo

L13: Stunning Member
Feb 20, 2008
1,059
219
I linked someone this and he gave me this
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcAq9bmCeR0"]YouTube - Evolution IS a Blind Watchmaker[/ame]
also highly interesting
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
They didn't even had to make an experiment, it's well known good and evil comes from religion
 

Sel

Banned
Feb 18, 2009
1,239
2,570
Even the swiss can't figure out that it obviously comes from fairy tales!
 

cornontheCoD

L420: High Member
Mar 25, 2008
437
70
'Evil' is just a word we use for something that breaks the rules or is selfish. These rules are created by man, so evil is relative.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
'Evil' is just a word ... These rules are created by man, so evil is relative.

Exactly, Good and Evil are relative to the majority population. If 80% of people thought it was practical to sacrifice virgins into molten lava to appease "gods", the population would not have any morale's to say otherwise; as it is accepted practice. It's a sophisticated debate. But generally boils down to X amount of generic pain caused in X amount of units = Evil.
 

TheDarkerSideofYourShadow

L10: Glamorous Member
Apr 12, 2008
792
286
Well, thats if you use utilitarian ethics. Different ethics systems might say something very different.