Digital Life

[Kendrick]

I debated posting this in Tech, but I think it's a more general thing.

I have the desktop ponies on my PC and a version of them on my phone. When I load them, I know this is silly, I always do at least 2 because in my mind I don't want them to be lonly. For a while I had a goldfish on my computer that looked like a real goldfish. It needed fed every day, it learned when and where you usually fed it. In general it was like a real fish. I felt bad if I missed a feeding, even. And I'm even a tech that works on, and programs, automation equipment/robots for a living.

I've heard of people getting attached to their Rumbas and such so I know this is a "real thing."

Anyone else have programs like the ponies that they inflect emotions upon?

I mean where is that line? If it is programmed to act just like a fish (and I just read an article about how fishing isn't cruel because their nervous system isn't complicated enough to fully process pain) so does it "feel" like a fish? Aren't our feelings akin to programmed responses?

[Cathalos]

this, combined with i robot, gives the following conclusion:

there is no line; feed the fishy!

[Parker_Izing]

In the sandbox game Gmod, some people (sorry, I don't remember names) released Pony ragdolls, but on deviantart somebody gave them NPC AI. (Instead of being flaccid and death alike they now "live")

This is an undoctored shot of FlutterShy and Rainbow Dash. When I picked the camera tool to take an screenshot, they seemed to pose for me, AI is very basic at this moment (soon ponies would talk and walk around) but they used all their capabilities to shock me. (I know what AI is and what can and can't do) I got genuinelly creeped and amazed... Fluttershy is genuinelly photogenic (da magiks) but even Dashie looks alive and realistic, in this photo sho looks her friend, but after she looked at me like Fluttershy, I expected she to say something... That my most recent experience with alike living things.

Historicaly we cannot forgot Elsie and Bessie, the robot "Tortoises" os Prof. Grey Walter (http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n09/historia/documentos_i.htm) the linkie got some info, but mine is from a book, so not mainstream, so better...

The robots depicted a remarkable life like conduct using just elemental electronics, they worked like this: a piece of wood with an axle with two wheels ported the components acting like a boogie ported by a third front wheel, that wheel had both, a 360º degree steering engine and a traction engine powering front wheel, both engines got current from two amplifiers feeded by two photocaptors attatched to the spinning third wheel that acted like a head of sort, and photocaptors acting as eyes.

The way the "turtle" was wired made it chase any light source, but when being too near, a failsafe inverted the mechanism as "light avoiding" With that, the turtle was superior to a organic animal, the moth, that burns in a candle flame...

Said failsafe mechanism was overriden when voltage was too low, so, the "turtle" could recharge in a set of rails conveniently placed below that light, once voltage recovered, the turtle would self un-dock.

The turtles (I told were two) also had a lightbulb over their "heads", this gave some interesting results, both they could interact between them and with a mirror, also their outer shell equipped a bump switch so they'l avoid hitting walls and furniture.

[Kendrick]

Som where is this project? Is it something anyone can log into and see?

I'd love to explore that world.

[Parker_Izing]

Som where is this project? Is it something anyone can log into and see?

I'd love to explore that world.

Gmod is a sand box Expansion to Source engine games, (so, it´s pay-ware) but you can get it from steam (you have to buy an official Source game plus gmod, everything else can be found for free. anyways, the gmod ponies can be found on Equestria daily and the NPC mod (a small file) from here deviant http://zombozoe.deviantart.com/art/Gmod-Pony-NPC-s-WIP-284036317 a WIP now, as told, cannot move or talk, but they make faces and turn.

[Boss_Hoss1]

So Gmod is an add on to existing games? So that's why I see pics of the ponies with screenshots of Team Fortress... what games can they be dropped in on?

And to keep it on topic, there has been learning behaviors observed in robot insects (available as plans or kits somewhere) and personally in a FPS with early AI for the NPCs. no matter what the setting in the deathmatch mode, the bots started avoiding the killzones where I would snipe them, and soon after, figure out how to come and get at me on those maps when they were set too low in difficulty to do that according to the settings... (Game was Unreal, in a mod using modern weapons)

[Parker_Izing]

Basically, gmod is conceived to start by adding it to Half Life 2, after, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, Portal, Left for Dead, Day of Defeat and the like, could be added, Also some people like to port stuff from other games....