jr <cre### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

> does it matter given the outcome's the same?  perhaps that (too) relates
> to the point made that language constructs constrain.

I would say it makes a big difference.

There's a huge difference between a blind naive brute-force algorithmic approach
that will arrive at a given endpoint when it's constrained by the input
parameters to arrive at a given result, and an intelligent recognition of a
solution to a given problem that can be formulated by an intelligence before
even beginning to implement the solution.

SDL is not intelligent.
POV-Ray is not intelligent.
The parser is not intelligent (just ask clipka!)
The algorithm Thomas is using to arrange blobs in the form of a human is not
intelligent.
The people who write that code are.  (Don't hate me, Stephen!)  :)

The slime mold example seems to be a Clockwork Orange.   There is no objective
autonomy which consciously makes decisions of its own accord.   There is a
programmed array of cells that are acted on by its environment and responds in a
certain manner.
There doesn't seem to be much more intelligence there than a liquid adopting the
shape of its complex container, or a clock, or a GPS navigation system
calculating the fastest route given current traffic conditions, or a
supercomputer arriving at a programmed solution to a fluid dynamics problem or a
finite element optimization of a suspension bridge.

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