Yeah, but we understand why birds can fly and why fish can swim and how gepards can run, at least on a mechanical basis.
This is not true for how this 302 cell organism works. We don't know and struggle to understand. That's actually the reason why the project exists. To find out how everything works with an bottom-up approach.
While we may find shortcuts or even superior forms of intelligence without understanding how intelligence works in biological creatures, it is still curious how we struggle even with a "simple" organism like C.elegans.
No but we observably do know that that the connections between cells are important, to the point that by mimicking that we've derived significant benefit.
The Wright flyer didn't flap, and the wings only superficially look like anything a bird has.
> No but we observably do know that that the connections between cells are important, to the point that by mimicking that we've derived significant benefit.
That is true and it shows even more how important observabilty is for science and engineering. That's also why a simulation that actually provides an accurate enough model of reality might help us so much. The problem with AI right now is, that we try or even claim to understand Unix by mimicking the functionality of transistors.
> The Wright flyer didn't flap, and the wings only superficially look like anything a bird has.
They tried to mimick bird wings when coming up with flight control mechanisms.
This is not true for how this 302 cell organism works. We don't know and struggle to understand. That's actually the reason why the project exists. To find out how everything works with an bottom-up approach.
While we may find shortcuts or even superior forms of intelligence without understanding how intelligence works in biological creatures, it is still curious how we struggle even with a "simple" organism like C.elegans.