XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.tv   
   From: Obveeus@aol.com   
      
   "Ken from Chicago"  wrote:   
      
   > Maybe the show is being written by writers who don't really understand   
   > computers. All the talk about analog programs being unduplicatable is   
   > silly since we've made analog copies long before computers. Plus we know   
   > how to translate analog signals and data into digital and back.   
      
   I don't think that they are intending to mean 'analog'/'digital' in that   
   sense.  I think they are going for something closer to 'fuzzy logic'...in   
   that the response/solution of a given set of input is not going to be 100%   
   predictable.  Digital is an exact '1' (yes) or '0' (no) response where as   
   Analog is gray area.  At least, that is how I was interpretting what they   
   meant.   
      
   > However for many people the idea that the conscious is inherently unique   
   > and uncopyable is appealing as the idea that intelligence, sentience (as   
   > in intelligence alien life or sentient computer programs) is undefinable.   
      
   The program is only half of the 'live' CylonZoe.  It was the combination of   
   the unique program that Zoe developed (designed to think in differences   
   rather than replications) combined with the defective MCP chip design stolen   
   from the other guy's company.   
      
   Computer programs do not always behave the same on different hardware   
   platforms.  Computer programs that 'grow'/'learn' by expanding their own   
   database would not always perform the same, even on the same platform.   
      
   > It's like older stories where robots can't use slang, tell jokes, feel   
   > emotions and they move "robotically" stiff, with a grinding whiney sound.   
      
   Yes, there is a bit of that stereotyping incongruity here.  Still, I can   
   understand the Cylon prototype (before Zoe) responding more poorly than the   
   butler robots.  After all, this 'butler' is the most advanced robot around   
   (Does anyone other than Graystone have one as a butler?) and can be assigned   
   a specific task (evade/attack the cylon robot) whereas the Cylon robot is   
   presumably in a mode where it has to identify (enemy/friend) and choose   
   appropriate response (arrest/kill).  In other words, the Cylon is being   
   asked to perform higher level functions than what the butler is being asked   
   to do.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)