Can an Organism Adapt Itself to Unforeseen Circumstances?

Abstract

A model of an organism as an autonomous intelligent system has been proposed. This model was used to analyze learning of an organism in various environmental conditions. Processes of learning were divided into two types: strong and weak processes taking place in the absence and the presence of aprioristic information about an object respectively. Weak learning is synonymous to adaptation when aprioristic programs already available in a system (an organism) are started. It was shown that strong learning is impossible for both an organism and any autonomous intelligent system. It was shown also that the knowledge base of an organism cannot be updated. Therefore, all behavior programs of an organism are congenital. A model of a conditioned reflex as a series of consecutive measurements of environmental parameters has been advanced. Repeated measurements are necessary in this case to reduce the error during decision making.