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Douglas_Knight comments on [LINK] "The Limits of Intelligence" - Less Wrong

1 Post author: RichardKennaway 04 July 2011 04:29PM

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Comment author: Douglas_Knight 05 July 2011 08:10:37PM *  0 points [-]

So let me rephrase my question in terms of output: do large animals have the same resolution of muscular control as small animals? Or do they have coarser control? If I'm 100x as tall as a mouse, do I have 100x as much control over the angle of my elbow? What good would that be? Can I pick up as small objects as a mouse? Why would I want to?

ETA: and even if I could, I think that would only explain a scaling exponent of 1/3, not the observed 3/4.

Comment author: Manfred 05 July 2011 08:50:03PM 0 points [-]

Of course you can pick up objects as small as a mouse. How do you operate your computer otherwise? :D

I often find it useful to finely control how much force I apply, e.g. threading a needle or walking barefoot on rocks. I don't know that my control over how much force I apply has to be as fine as a mouse's, but pretty near.