LIFESCI 3C03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: The Selfish Gene, Ethology, Negative Feedback
25 Jan 2017
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Animal behaviour is fast relative to plants. Movements animals make are reversible and repeatable. Different body parts of animals can be represented as automotive parts: Muscles are engines that use up energy to allow movement. The brain is similar to a computer because both: Generate complex patterns of output after analysis of input. The brain controls and coordinates muscle contractions, which contributes to survival. Sensory organs allow communication between stimuli of the environment and the brain to allow appropriate movement to occur and only under the right circumstances. Purpose machine: behaves as if it had a conscious purpose. Equipped with a measuring device to measure the discrepancy between the current state of things and the desired state. Goal of a machine: that state to which it tends to return. Ma(cid:272)hi(cid:374)es (cid:373)ay see(cid:373) as though they ha(cid:448)e a (cid:862)desire(cid:863) to a(cid:272)(cid:272)o(cid:373)plish a task (e. g. a missile searching out its target)
