Abstract
Stuffed in one of the robotics laboratories at Cornell University is a four-legged machine that wakes up every day with a daunting task. The robot knows that it must move from one side of the table it sits on to the other side, but it does not know how to do it. Even worse, the robot does not even know its own shape. It knows that it is constructed of eight pieces and eight motors, but it does not know how all these components are stuck together. Thus, it must engage on ajourney of self-discovery, flexing and twisting its parts to surmise whether it is shaped like a snake, a tree, or a centipede, among an almost infinite set of possibilities. After that, it must decide how to use its configuration to make the trip to its desired location.1
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Notes
Josh Bongard, Victor Zykov, and Hod Lipson, “Resilient Machines Through Continuous Self-Modeling,” Science 314 (2006): 1118–1121.
For reviews see David Dunning, Self-Insight: Roadblocks and Detours on the Path to Knowing Thyself (New York: Psychology Press, 2005)
David Dunning, Chip Heath, and Jerry Suis, “Flawed Self-Assessment: Implications for Health, Education, and the Workplace,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 5, no. 3 (2004): 69–106
Paul A. Mabe, III and Stephen G. West, “Validity of Self-Evaluation of Ability: A Review and Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Applied Psychology 67, no. 3 (1982): 280–286.
See Diane B. Wayne, John Butter, Viva J. Siddal, Monica J. Fudala, Leonard D. Wade, Joe Fienglass, and William C. Mcgaghie, “Graduating Internal Medicine Residents’ Self-Assessment and Performance of Advanced Cardiac Life Support Skills,” Medical Teacher 28, no. 4 (2006): 365–369.
D.A. Risucci, A.J. Torolani, and R.J. Ward, “Ratings of Surgical Residents by Self, Supervisors and Peers,” Surgical Gynecology and Obstetrics 169, no. 6 (1989): 519–526.
Keith Topping, “Peer Assessment between Students in Colleges and Universities,” Preview of Educational Research 68, no. 3 (1998): 249–276.
John Norcini, “Peer Assessment of Competence,” Medical Education 37, no. 6 (2003): 539–554.
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© 2009 George R. Goethals and J. Thomas Wren
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Dunning, D.A. (2009). Self-Discovery. In: Goethals, G.R., Wren, J.T. (eds) Leadership and Discovery. Jepson Studies in Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101630_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101630_7
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