I’m not 100% sure and didn’t chase down the reference, but in context, I believe the claim “the [infant decorticate rats] appear to suckle normally and develop into healthy adult rats” should be read as “they find their way to their mother’s nipple and suckle”, not just “they suckle when their mouth is already in position”.
Pathfinding to a nipple doesn’t need to be “pathfinding” per se, it could potentially be as simple as moving up an odor gradient, and randomly reorienting when hitting an obstacle. I dunno, I tried watching a couple videos of neonatal mice suckling their mothers (1,2) and asking myself “could I write python-esque pseudocode that performed as well as that?” and my answer was “yeah probably, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”. (Granted, this is not a very scientific approach.)
“Shared training data” includes not only the laws of physics but also the possession of a human brain and body. For example, I might speculate that both sharp objects and “sharp” noises are causes of unpleasantness thanks to our innate brainstem circuits, and all humans have those circuits, therefore all humans might have a shared tendency to give similar answers to the bouba/kiki thing. Or even if that specific story is wrong, I can imagine that something vaguely like that might be responsible.
I’m not 100% sure and didn’t chase down the reference, but in context, I believe the claim “the [infant decorticate rats] appear to suckle normally and develop into healthy adult rats” should be read as “they find their way to their mother’s nipple and suckle”, not just “they suckle when their mouth is already in position”.
Pathfinding to a nipple doesn’t need to be “pathfinding” per se, it could potentially be as simple as moving up an odor gradient, and randomly reorienting when hitting an obstacle. I dunno, I tried watching a couple videos of neonatal mice suckling their mothers (1,2) and asking myself “could I write python-esque pseudocode that performed as well as that?” and my answer was “yeah probably, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”. (Granted, this is not a very scientific approach.)
“Shared training data” includes not only the laws of physics but also the possession of a human brain and body. For example, I might speculate that both sharp objects and “sharp” noises are causes of unpleasantness thanks to our innate brainstem circuits, and all humans have those circuits, therefore all humans might have a shared tendency to give similar answers to the bouba/kiki thing. Or even if that specific story is wrong, I can imagine that something vaguely like that might be responsible.
Alright, I see what you’re saying now. Thanks for the conversation!