The conundrum of correlation and causation.
Biology can inspire robotic simulations of behavior and thus advance robotics, but the validity of drawing conclusions about real behavior from robotic models is questionable. Robotic models, particularly of learning, do not account, for example, for (a) exaptation: co-opting of previously evolved functions for new behavior, (b) learning through observation, (c) complex biological reality, or (d) limits on computational capacity.
Pepperberg
Irene M
IM
The Media Lab, Massachusetts Instititute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139 impepper@media.mit.edu http://www.alexfoundation.org.