Word: behaviorism
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...your cover story on birth order fascinating [Nov. 12]. For years, I have attempted to interpret myriad human actions through the filter of birth order. Although I understand a theory is far from a catchall answer to psychological mysteries, I believe this one explains a large part of our behavior. Thank you for publishing the latest research. Kathryn Bridges Pulliam, Mobile, Alabama...
When introduced to the real roaches, the robots fit right in - the gathering behavior of the horde was pretty much unchanged. Researchers then reprogrammed the robots to prefer a less-dark hiding place - unnatural for a roach. The insects and the infiltrators were put back into the enclosure, except this time one of their hiding places was more lightly tinted than the other: It was brighter inside. Again, all the roaches scurried around randomly for a while, but the robots eventually settled under the lighter, less shadowy disk - and the real cockroaches followed. Which means that the hypothesis - that...
...principle, say the researchers, the idea could be extended to other, more complex group-living animals. Although robots would obviously have to be more sophisticated to penetrate and alter the behavior of a herd of sheep or a flock of geese, for example, it's at least conceivable that this could someday be done. In fact, Halloy and his colleagues are already working on a robot chicken to try and manipulate the behavior of chicks...
...course not. But are you willing, in the meantime, to modify your behavior? Well, I wonder...
...related accident in Iraq. The premise behind the prediction, according to Santaros, is that “the rotation of the earth is slowing down at a rate of .00000006 miles per hour each day, disrupting the chemical equilibrium in the human brain, causing very irrational criminal behavior.” Santaros and his porn-star lover Krysta Now, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Cruel Intentions”), work to put the screenplay together, but in the course of their efforts, Santaros begins to reclaim his memory and unearths a governmental plot that has the potential...