The results of the experiment do not support the view of humans as machines as discussed in chapter 2. My reaction time did decrease, but not in a uniform or significant way that you would expect from a learning machine. As a human being, I made errors, such as misjudging the drop and getting 7 inches (reaction time 190.4), while on other trials I anticipated correctly and got 1.5 inches (reaction time 88.1).
penname=red I agree because human beings do not systemetically perform as machines even if practice is involved. There can be random, and unexpected results because every person adapts differently. However, machines can be made the same to perform in exact fashion.
I agree as well, no two humans are the same. Every time a human conducts a new trial it will never be the same as the one before. We are by nature in perfect creatures which goes with the saying that "nobody's perfect." On the other hand if we were machines we would be able to perfectly program ourselves to catch the ruler immediately after it leaves your hand. Nevertheless this is not the case, and the results will vary each time no matter what.
I agree with you. I do not believe that humans can be compared to machines because machines perform consistently and are assumed to have little or no variation when it comes to an experiment such as this. We as humans are not programmed that way and another fact that illustrates this point is that we have different reaction times with each hand. In my experiment, my dominant hand tended to have a quicker reaction time than my left hand. If a machine had a right and left hand, the results would not have been different.
No two people can act the same, not even twins act exactly the same. Although it is possible that human error can be missing, human error in most experiments is present. Machines can only be programmed so much, and have nothing to influence them on the way they decide something (humans have other things to influence them in the outside). If a machine, for example, is attracted to light, the machine cannot choose to go against the light if it is programmed to be attacted to it, whereas a human can know that if the light is being produced by something like a fire, that they should stay far enough away so that they don't get burnt.
I think it's pretty obvious that human cannot be compared to machines. Machines can be programmed to be faster but they cannot decide or make judgment (or even be motivated) on why they need to (for example) catch a ruler faster every time the experiment is repeated. Also, there are factors that make unexpected result for humans, i.e. maybe your arms getting tired, or you lost your interest and you are not paying attention to the ruler. Another point is that although my right had was faster, i can train my left hand to be faster after several practice. humans can actually have motivation to pursue and accomplish a goal like this, but machines can only follow orders and what it is programmed for.
