Meant to be Seen

I think this is just terrible:

http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/rat ... t/vbm5xdct

I can't think of a more cruel thing to do to an animal. It just makes me feel sick inside.

Regards,
Neil

Hmm.. that's pretty cool actually.

That project isn't really as cruel as it seems at first glance. The cells controlling the robot has been cultured outside the rat so they didn't actually extract the entire ratbrain and put it into the robot. Doing a biopsy on the rat for braincells is cruel though.
I don't know how many neurons thats needed before one can say that they form an individual but that robot would be far from it.

On the other hand i get the chill of experiements like this: RC rats.
Still not close to what humans are capable to in their curiosity...

I just don't know. I have this image of them using an icecream scoop to get their experiment to work. Grey area for sure.

Regards,
Neil

Well I think you make certain trade-offs in the name of science. Experiments like this can one day help the disabled to walk again, and I think that's a worthy cause.

It's worth noting that our tendency to anthropormorphize (i.e. to imbue with human traits) everything around us has a tendency to lead us to erroneous conclusions about what is or isn't cruel/moral/ethical.

Suffice it to say, while the substrate for the information processing is biological in origin, it is still far closer to a computer chip (a very advanced one) then the massive scale network of neurons that form of a human brain, and even less the brain and everything else attached to that brain that forms a human being.

I can't imagine how many rats we've killed or tortured for science. I agree with cyber though, it's a trade-off that I think is worthwhile, just unfortunate for the rats... There's no real ethical defense for being a meat-eater anymore either, but most of us probably are.