Intelligent Design Icon Intelligent Design

Bionic Bees? A Prediction of Intelligent Design


It’s an easy and fun pastime to come up with predictions about empirical reality that would seem to follow from intelligent design theory. Here’s one: If life is designed much like a computer is designed, running not only what looks like but really is software, then I predict it should be possible to “scan” and “upload” the software from biological entities to manmade artifacts, which would then run it just as they would any computer program.
That sounds reasonable to expect. Guess I’ll file that one away and…hey wait a minute, my prediction is already in the process of being — or rather, bee-ing — confirmed. Wired UK has the story:

Engineers from the universities of Sheffield and Sussex are planning on scanning the brains of bees and uploading them into autonomous flying robots that will then fly and act like the real thing.
Bionic bees — or perhaps that should be “beeonic” — could, it is hoped, be used for a range of situations where tiny thinking flying machines should be more useful than current technology, which might mean seeking out gas or chemical leaks, or people who are trapped in small spaces. They might even help pollinate plants in places where natural bee populations have fallen due to the still-mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder.
It’s important to note that this won’t be an entirely comprehensive model of a bee’s brain — it’s only going to be the parts associated with its sense of smell and vision. These modules will be melded with other software to form what the team call a ” Green Brain”, one that can react to new situations and improvise rapidly just like a “real” animal or insect brain.

Nice. They would be called “cybees” and could potentially be in the air by 2015.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

Share

Tags

Computational SciencesNews