121–130 of 191 posts
I wonder how its prevents wear? Could be something quite revolutionary there for the finding. Some sort of new organic lubricant, or something in the gears that self lubricates.
Maybe it doesn't. The last paragraph of the article implies that wear eventually would compromise the gears, but that the insect molting and replacing the old gears with new ones (frequently?) prevents it from being a problem.
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So that intelligence would be able to feel proud of something? That's a very human concept.
God cannot feel pride, for that would imply the possibility of failure. God is beyond most human emotions, probably all, for that reason: our emotions imply their opposites, while for God, there are no alternatives other than what is -- which is by definition perfect. Mind you, I'm an atheist, so this is just my understanding of the argument.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except that the new iteration is pretty much making random changes.
> Except that the new iteration is pretty much making random changes. E.g., avoiding ivory tower planning and instead using empirical, in-the-wild A/B testing.
Can someone explain what this means? I don't get it: > Most other bugs synchronize the quick jolt of their leaping legs through friction, using bumpy or grippy surfaces to press the top of their legs together
"They're rather specialized, and there are lots of other jumpers that don't have them, so there must be some kind of advantage." Not necessarily. Evolution has a lot to do with path dependence and in no way guarantees the best of all possible adaptations.
This is entirely incorrect. 9g is the limit that someone can stay conscious, but the body can withstand a lot more.
Experimental subject John Stapp withstood 46.2 g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=G-force#Horizontal...
"They're rather specialized, and there are lots of other jumpers that don't have them, so there must be some kind of advantage." Not necessarily. Evolution has a lot to do with path dependence and in no way guarantees the best of all possible adaptations.
In this case it seems pretty obvious that gears can be better than friction at transmitting torque.