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These models are of course so simple that any more detailed comparison between them and living creatures would be purely conjectural.

— William Grey Walter A machine that learns (1951)

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More quotes by William Grey Walter

The mechanism of learning is of course one of the most enthralling and baffling mysteries in the field of biology.

A machine that learns (1951)

Some of these patterns of performance were calculable, though only as types of behaviour, in advance; some were quite unforeseen.

The Living Brain (1953)

In any case there is an intense modern interest in machines that imitate life. The great difference between magic and the scientific imitation of life is that where the former is content to copy external appearance, the latter is concerned more with performance and behavior.

[Walter even gave the tortoises a mock-biological name, Machina speculatrix] because they illustrate particularly the exploratory, speculative behaviour that is so characteristic of most animals.

p. 43 as cited in: Owen Holland (2003)

Not in looks, but in action, the model must resemble an animal. Therefore it must have these or some measure of these attributes: exploration, curiosity, free-will in the sense of unpredictability, goalseeking, self-regulation, avoidance of dilemmas, foresight, memory, learning, forgetting, association of ideas, form recognition, and the elements of social accommodation. Such is life.

The Living Brain (1953)

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