Recently I was listening to the Brain Science Podcast, & the subject just happened to be The Origin of Emotions.

Jaak Panksepp was talking about the evolution of emotions, & to my surprise, he proposed that the very most fundamental emotion was the “seeking instinct”– he didn’t use the word “curiosity” but of course that’s what jumped into my head. I hadn’t even thought of this as an emotion per se, but it makes perfect sense! The same essential impulse that sends any animal out into the world in search of food extends to send me in search of interesting podcasts & new program skills,* for instance, or the Curiosity Rover to Mars, or this robot in search of odd little green thingies!

It was a fascinating podcast in general, & if you’re not the podcast type there’s a pdf transcript of the interview available here.

*For this Bot I learned how to use the star tool (for the pattern in the irises– super-easy) & the object blend tool (for the goose-neck & arms– quite a bit more complex but fun & amazing)!

And don’t forget to check out all the other C robots over at AlphaBots!