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Give Zebrafish Some Booze and They Stop Fearing Robots
Zothecula writes "With some help from a robotic fish, scientists have discovered that zebrafish are much like humans in at least one way – they get reckless when they get drunk. OK, 'drunk' might not be technically accurate, but when exposed to alcohol, the fish show no fear of a robotic version of one of their natural predators, the Indian leaf fish. When they're "sober," they avoid the thing like crazy. The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising future for robots in behavioral studies."
Slashdot headline of the century...
Where I come from, a 1/2 stick of dynamite in the middle of the pond and they all float on the surface, sleeping like koalas in the noon day sun...
I wonder if people come up with these research projects by going to a party and then asking for a) the name of an animal, b) a noun, and c) a liquid.
"The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising future for robots in behavioral studies."
Wouldn't drugging the subjects of the study invalidate any data collected about their behavior?
Have gnu, will travel.
The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising future for robots in behavioral studies.
The lesson here is clear: simply inebriate (or medicate) the populace and our nature aversion to robots that are too lifelike becomes a thing of the past. Voila; "uncanny valley" problem solved! :p
The patterns that indicate the robot fish is not real may be more noticable when drunk.
When I'm on LSD I can notice nonstandard frequencies of flicker in video and lighting.
Mess with the brain's frequency and 'noise' that we usually ignore becomes obvious.
Perhaps the fish aren't scared because now they're able to notice the robotic movement has a slightly different pattern than natural movement.
This has been done before: http://www.amazon.com/Drunken-Goldfish-Irrelevant-Scientific-Research/dp/044921804X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375482232&sr=8-1&keywords=drunken+goldfish
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Zebrafish to robot leaf fish: "Shoo ain't sho tuff! C'mon, come get yershelf shome of thish! Aahl kik yer ash, er, tail!"
Seriously, how is "booze lowers inhibition" newsworthy? The fact that it's as true for fish as it is for mammals?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
"The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising future for robots in behavioral studies."
And the future of alcohol studies. In fact, let me participate in a study right now.
Yeah, so we'll have lots of useless data on how animals behave when on booze.
"Do orangos prefer Brandy over Whiskey?"
"If you were a dog, what brand of beer would you choose?"
We could even have reality shows about how our zebrafish is doing in her withdrawal comunity!
No. That's the moped effect. They're fun to ride as long as no one sees you.
The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising future for robots in behavioral studies.
Wait, what? I was sure the moral of the story was gonna be a new Prohibition for our fishy friends.
Sounds like an awesome internship.
That works for me too.
No. That's the moped effect. They're fun to ride as long as no one sees you.
A sack of flour comes in handy...
Alcohol is a depressant. Unlike LSD, it has a history of promoting unsafe and stupid actions in a high percentage of human users. Again, mostly unlike LSD, even people who are highly experienced, stick to reputable sources, have used alcohol regularly and are familiar with its general effects, and consume it only with organized social safety nets in place to protect them from the worst risks, may still have medical problems relating to alcohol, and there is evidence for some of these problems never, ever getting better once they develop. In fact, there are several side effects of alcohol known to persist for the abuser's entire life (see: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Alcohol'ism' (apparently, from the word construction, this is a religious or philosophical belief in the divinity of alcohol, how bizarre), and Liver-looks-like-someone-stuck-a-fork-in-itosis). Other alcohol related problems may be treatable or curable, but often only at great expense (see: marriage, paternity). In fact, the only reasons I would not recommend LSD to most adults is that it may have some small chances of triggering a few of the same problems alcohol produces so much more often, plus some of them look really stupid driving down the interstate at four miles an hour talking to polka-dot Cthulhu.
Who is John Cabal?
I did not RTFA (this is Slashdot you insensitive clod) but maybe the poor Zebrafish were just blinded by all the booze and therefore couldn't see the threat, which is not a behavioral change at all.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
I'f you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, he'll get that fish drunk and make it fight robots. or something like that...
http://www.improbable.com/ig/miscellaneous/nominate.html
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
He gets drunk on vodka and says, "Bring on the cat!"
The researchers believe that the experiments indicate a promising excuse to get DRUNK as FUCK.
"Alcohol'ism' (apparently, from the word construction, this is a religious or philosophical belief in the divinity of alcohol, how bizarre)"
It's actually the religious doctrine that says that the creator made (at least some, possibly all) people in such a way that a single drink of anything alcoholic will inevitably lead to alcohol abuse and self-destruction which they are completely powerless to stop. Adherents consider each day they manage to go sober a miracle - and also, unsurprisingly, often fall off the wagon and validate the other side of their belief as well.
See also "Twelve Steps to Hell."
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Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
+1 to what he said
Except the sight of a moped has never made me want to vomit, not even Vespas.
I wonder what happens to their conclusions after they've had a little too much libation?
Uh no. You only *think* you can notice more things. That's because you're intoxicated.
...
Give a robot some booze and I stop fearing zebrafish.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Someone posted an article on slashdot a while back which showed that alcohol's effects are culturally dependent. The humans in some places become more quiet and reserved when drunk.
... that doesn't explain my dread of robotic bartenders.
Give me enough booze and I stop fearing robots too.
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