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Give Zebrafish Some Booze and They Stop Fearing Robots

Posted by Soulskill on from the valuable-life-advice dept.

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."

2 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. LOL!!! by Type44Q · · Score: 1, Interesting

    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

  2. Maybe they were just blinded... by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

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