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Comment by tartoran | Hacker News Reader

> because it computationally is a very hard task for the brain

Can you explain what part of physical exercise is computationally hard for the brain?

Processing of visual information, especially on short time scales. Feedback mechanisms for balance. Adapting to changing environmental conditions (e.g. how much should a stride be adjusted on gravel, in mud, on damp pavement). These are all detailed tasks that are done during physical exercise, just not typically tasks that are done at a conscious level.

Inverse kinematics calculations for a large number of joints, and high-precision control of same.

Don't most mammals have about the same number of joints? This implies a very small part of our mind is responsible for that.

Even pumpkin toadlets, who famously can't coordinate their landings, the problem isn't the size of their brain, it's their vestibular system.

I'm of the opinion that most animals are probably a lot higher up the sentience scale than is the current social consensus, but I don't think exercise is itself a major cognitive effort. Arbitrary games sure (not just the rules, anything social involves modelling multiple entities like yourself), but not the physical exercise itself.

I don’t think the point is that physical work makes humans intelligent in comparison to animals. I think the point is that physically active humans exercise aspects of their intelligence that modern sedentary humans do not.

Why are people so impressed at Boston Dynamics robots completing obstacle courses that human children could easily complete?

While it's true that Boston Dynamics robots can barely walk, they can't write coherent and innovative stories, solve abstract problems, or other related tasks at all yet.

Hardware is hard.

Making an AI that learns to control a purely virtual body appears to be a fairly standard project.

1) https://youtu.be/XrOTgZ14fJg

2) https://youtu.be/882O_7hsAms

3) https://youtu.be/1kV-rZZw50Q

4) https://youtu.be/gn4nRCC9TwQ

A virtual body in a virtual world. I would say "real world is hard" is the more likely conclusion than "hardware is hard".

You should try building one! I wonder why isn’t everyone impressed what Boston Dynamics has done?

As soon as we make a robot that’s as good as a human child in every way, then I’m going to start worrying seriously about Skynet.

Have you ever played QWOP? Play QWOP.

Not falling over while moving and interacting with physical objects successfully.

You can throw at it few gpus worth of computing power and still end up short.

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