"The second core problem is that, because of its success and ubiquity, we tend to see digital computing as the only substrate for building these new creatures. We miss the importance of hardware, of embodiment; the shape of a fish fin outweighs any amount of clever code when swimming. We miss the power of low-level analogue electronic circuitry and it’s equivalent in animal reflexes and spinal cords. We miss the role of the environment, dismissing it as a nuisance or simply as one more annoying problem to be solved, until it resurfaces in bizarre research where artificial octopus tentacles in a fish tank appear to solve mathematical problems. We’re overspecialised, and each discipline (fluid mechanics, physiology, ethology, mechanical engineering…) only rarely peers over the wall into its neighbours’ garden. Where are the unifying principles?"
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Simon Birrell
Simon Birrell (born 26 July 1966) is a British entrepreneur, technologist and film maker. He was part of the team that invented ambient intelligence and who, with Eli Zelkha, coined the term.
5 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Simon Birrell →
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