Hod Lipson’s self-aware robot used feedback from its limbs in order to learn how to walk. He had successfully created a machine that learns like we do, with observation, modeling, and execution. Curious, Lipson took the same algorithm, attached it to a double pendulum, and left the new machine to its own devices. When he came back, the answer he got was startling.

Recorded June 2011; Posted August 2011