Space Settlement

> From: Matt Gallimore
> I offer you an example: the humble honeybee.
>
> With a miniscule brain, barely visible to the human eye
> (800,000 neurons), and maybe less processing power than your
> desktop, what amazing things this creature can do?

Then again, the predator UAV can (or rather has demonstrated the capacity
to)
Drive (along runways)
Fly
Navigate across hundreds of miles in zero visibility
Find and kill tanks
Persuad iraqi sldiers to surrender just by staring at them
Unbuild homes and other buildings
Provide assistance to soldiers on the ground
Transmit TV pictures half way round the world
Etc.

In both lists a lot of the capacity boils down to engineering, not
programming. A bee can things a PC cannot because the honey bee can pick
things up. There's also the issue of cost. A roomba 'vacuum robot',
laser-INS or corrected-GPS, robot arm, additional sensors, and wifi
equipment all cost money. Add some kind of futuristic 3D printer so it can
build nests 'n' stuff, and it's cheaper to do the job yourself. As that
stuff gets miniaturised and standardised, costs will come down and it's
likely that the thousands of hobbyists tinkering away at the problems of
weak AI will make some genuine progress.

John