Rat-brained robot video

[Raineyrocks]

http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/video/2008/08/14/rat_brained_robot

What do you think?    I say poor rat!

[doobie]

We're a few years away from the rats realizing they now have the power to exterminate humans.

[Raineyrocks]

We're a few years away from the rats realizing they now have the power to exterminate humans.

I don't know this guy seems pretty super duper excited about "the experiment", we may have only months left.

[Free libertarian]

 The interesting thing will be when we have mechanical/biological creatures how will they be perceived
by our society? Slaves? Companions? What?  Imagine a being that needs food and an oil change in the same body. How will they be viewed legally? Eventually someone will want to uh get romantic with one too...hopefully there ahem batteries won't die at an opportune time. Will we have marches in the streets by Cyborgs looking for equal rights or will they just eat us foolish people and be done with us? 

While I find the cyborg thing frightening, I may personally go for a new body. I've always wanted to be able to fly so if they could figure out a way to stick my brain in a pigeon or something that would be cool. Not sure if I can do the cooing and eating bread in the park thing, but I can think of some windshield's I'd like to decorate.

A bit over a century ago the airplane was thought impossible, so we shouldn't be surprised by anything in the future. Scratch the pigeon thing too, I want to be a Pterodactyl or a fire breathing dragon instead. :_fire__by_zacthetoad

[Raineyrocks]

The interesting thing will be when we have mechanical/biological creatures how will they be perceived
by our society? Slaves? Companions? What?  Imagine a being that needs food and an oil change in the same body. How will they be viewed legally? Eventually someone will want to uh get romantic with one too...hopefully there ahem batteries won't die at an opportune time. Will we have marches in the streets by Cyborgs looking for equal rights or will they just eat us foolish people and be done with us? 

While I find the cyborg thing frightening, I may personally go for a new body. I've always wanted to be able to fly so if they could figure out a way to stick my brain in a pigeon or something that would be cool. Not sure if I can do the cooing and eating bread in the park thing, but I can think of some windshield's I'd like to decorate.

A bit over a century ago the airplane was thought impossible, so we shouldn't be surprised by anything in the future. Scratch the pigeon thing too, I want to be a Pterodactyl or a fire breathing dragon instead. :_fire__by_zacthetoad

I don't know, sigh!  I remember when I said the internet was strange and I wouldn't touch it, ha, look at me now!

Really, why be a pigeon when you could be a fire breathing dragon!

[dalebert]

I'm still hoping I survive long enough to have my mind uploaded into a super computer. That would be a kind of cyborg- a mechanical body and even a mechanical brain merged with a human mind. We'll be able to live in virtual reality or pass from one cyborg body to another- maybe even a mechanical brain in a biological body, even a bird. But a pigeon? Come on! An eagle maybe! Pigeons are disgusting. People call them flying rats, but I don't even give them that much credit because rats are really amazing creatures and really smart.

[Puke]

I'm still hoping I survive long enough to have my mind uploaded into a super computer. That would be a kind of cyborg- a mechanical body and even a mechanical brain merged with a human mind. We'll be able to live in virtual reality or pass from one cyborg body to another- maybe even a mechanical brain in a biological body, even a bird. But a pigeon? Come on! An eagle maybe! Pigeons are disgusting. People call them flying rats, but I don't even give them that much credit because rats are really amazing creatures and really smart.

I'd prefer a crow. Crows are very intelligent. Or is it Ravens? Maybe that's the same thing? It's too early.

[dalebert]

I'd prefer a crow. Crows are very intelligent. Or is it Ravens? Maybe that's the same thing? It's too early.

They're definitely closely related if not exactly the same, and I'm not sure myself. However, they're both FREAKISHLY intelligent. I posted a vid recently of one of them making and using tools.

Watch this crow try to retrieve a bucket with a wire, fail after a few tries, then bend the wire into a hook and succeed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtmLVP0HvDg

[Puke]

Here we go.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/crowfaq.htm#raven

What is the difference between a crow and a raven?

Crows and ravens, although in the same genus (Corvus) are different birds. (Think of leopards and tigers; both are in the genus Panthera, and are obviously related, but they are quite distinct animals.) The words "crow" and "raven" themselves have little or no real taxonomic meaning. That is, the Australian "ravens" are more closely related to the Australian "crows" than they are to the Common Raven (Corvus corax). In general, the biggest black species, usually with shaggy throat feathers, are called ravens and the smaller species are considered crows.

Common Ravens can be told from American Crows by a couple of things. The size difference, which is huge, is only useful with something else around to compare them with. Ravens are as big as Red-tailed Hawks, and crows are, well, crow sized. The wedge-shaped tail of the raven is a good character, if you can see it well. Crows sometimes show an apparent wedge shape to the tail, but almost never when it is fanned as the bird soars or banks (except for a brief time during molt in the summer).

More subtle characters include: ravens soar more than crows. If you see a "crow" soaring for more than a few seconds, check it a second time. Crows never do the somersault in flight that Common Ravens often do. Ravens are longer necked in flight than crows. The larger bill of the raven can be seen in flight, but it is actually less apparent than the long neck. Raven wings are shaped differently than are crow wings, with longer primaries ("fingers") with more slotting between them. As my neighbor said, "Ravens are the ones whose wings you can see through." The longer primaries make the wings look more bent at the wrist than a crow as the bird flies, and the "hand" portion can look nearly pointed.

If seen perched in a good look, the huge bill and shaggy throat of a raven are diagnostic. The upper and lower edges of the bill are parallel for most of their length (3/4?) in ravens, while in crows the downward curve starts somewhere around 2/3 of the way out for males, and about halfway for females.

But remember, ravens are pretty uncommon around here [Ithaca, NY]. If you see a "really big crow!", chances are good that it really is a crow. Yes, there are large crows and small ones, but you couldn't ever tell which was which. Any difference in size (380g - 660g is the weight range around here; 800 - 950 mm wingspan) among individuals is not detectable, in that the range of appearance of a single crow (by fluffing or sleeking its feathers) is greater.

American Crows make the familiar "caw-caw," but also have a large repertoire of rattles, clicks, and even clear bell-like notes. However, they never give anything resembling the most common calls of Common Ravens. The most familiar call of a raven is a deep, reverberating croaking or "gronk-gronk." Only occasionally will a raven make a call similar to a crow's "caw" but even then it is so deep as to be fairly easily distinguished from a real crow. Ravens also make a huge variety of different notes. It has been said (attributed to native Americans) that if you hear something in the forest that you cannot identify (assuming you know all the common forest sounds), it is a raven.

[Puke]

An Army (His name is Timber Pesterfield!) buddy of mine from Alaska once told me he knew a guy (An indian.) who had a pet Raven that he swears you could hold a conversation with.

Timber also remarked once about how he hates Bald Eagles. They are everywhere in Alaska apparently and are more of a nuisance than anything. They steal fish from fisherman and get into garbage cans and such. Ever since then I've noticed that he's correct. Eagles aren't that great. I would prefer the Turkey to have been the national bird like Jefferson did. It's far more original than Eagles. Oh well.