Cat Intelligence - Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

In assessing the limitations resulting from the genetic propensity that the cat as a species has for adaption to a more intelligent biological state through evolutionary means, animal integrity is cited a reason that genetic transformation of animals should not proceed. In considering the unlikely likelihood of the cat developing intelligence should the opportunity for longitudinal evolutionary changes occur, e.g. if humanity becomes extinct, the likelihood of an evolution of pantera intelligence within the millions-of-years time-scale identified by the evolution of human intelligence studies is a factor of genetics.

Since 2006, when the entire DNA constituents in sequence of the Abyssinian cat were made into a genetic map of the Felix catus, genetically engineering some form of enhanced cat intelligence has become theoretically possible, although it is presently unlikely to ever be created due to ethical restrictions as well as practical considerations. Artificially enhanced cat intelligence would therefore only become a consideration for use in experiment, perhaps at some unknown time in future. The production of more intelligent cats might be theoretically a consideration for military organisations i.e. DARPA, in the hope of gleaning some advancement in warfare. Practically the common cat has proved little use for military personnel (Acoustic Kitty), despite the potential inherent in a creature with far greater prowess and agility than any human.

In November 2009, scientists simulated a cat's brain using a supercomputer containing 24,576 processors. This experiment did not simulate the function of the individual neurons in the brain, nor their synaptic patterns. It was intended to demonstrate that the problem of simulating a biological brain could be scaled to very large supercomputer platforms.

There are a number of reasons the cat brain is a goal of computer simulations. Cats are familiar and easily-kept animals, so the physiology of cats has been particularly well studied. The physical structure of human brains and cat brains are very similar. Cats, like humans, have binocular vision that gives them depth perception. Building artificial mammal brains requires ever more powerful computers as the brain gets more complex, from the mouse brain, to the rat brain (in 2007), to the cat brain, and ultimately to the human brain. Building artificial mammal brains advances the research of both neuroscience and artificial intelligence, but also leads to questions of the definition of sentient and conscious life forms, and to the ethics of artificial consciousness.