Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus (Book)
By ai-depot | June 30, 2002
Learning via Imitation
A fairly important part of the novel is set in southern Germany, where the creature spends his time watching a poor family’s daily routine in a small cottage. He spends over a year there, and manages to pick up most of their behaviours and habits. This is a surprisingly short period of time to become a human capable of complex actions and behaviours. The importance of imitation learning is underlined here.
This has a great impact on Artificial Intelligence, which I’ve come to realise over the past few weeks (also thanks to the brilliant BBC series ‘Walking with Beasts’). Mammals have become so successful compared to reptiles or insects for many reasons, but the main one remains their instinct to raise their offspring. This is a phase where the mother teaches the offspring what she has learnt during her lifetime, and allows the child to benefit from this. This is an extremely crucial concept, since an individual is no longer just limited by his genetic code. Given the wrong upbringing, a ‘fit’ individual can not make use of his extra abilities, since he has not benefited from the initial learning by imitation phase. I believe this is known as the Baldwin Effect, which Shelly has identified and recited brilliantly.
Summary
The book is a great read and you won’t regret it, so the issue that you should read it just because it’s a classic is no longer relevant. The novel has great insights into the personalities of the main characters, and the storyline will keep you captivated right until the final show-down.
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- Order at Amazon.co.uk
Written by Alex J. Champandard.
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