From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Fri Mar 08 2002 - 11:52:10 MST
Nominate for "Post of the Month":
hal@finney.org wrote:
>
> Richard Steven Hack writes:
>
> > Uploading by definition means that you are confined to a system which is
> > less than the physical universe and subject to the effects of the physical
> > universe, i.e., you do not have the freedom to move around in space-time or
> > access the physical resources of the universe. Even if you assume that the
> > system you are in has widely-spread nodes across star systems or whatever,
> > and can access physical resources via telepresence or robotic agents, you
> > are still metaphysically limited. This is not the situation a Transhuman
> > wants to be in.
>
> You may be thinking of a specific scenario for uploading that is more
> restrictive than necessary. Broadly speaking we use uploading to refer
> to transferring our minds from their current biological brains to some
> kind of artificial system like a computer.
>
> Our minds are already confined to a system which is less than the
> universe, namely our brains. Transferring them to a computer does
> not have to limit our options to move around or access the universe.
> Of course if the computer is gigantic and needs massive power feeds
> then moving it will be difficult, but in principle one could have
> a small computer and move it around easily.
>
> Even without that, I don't see what the problem is with telepresence. In
> a way, all of our perceptions are mediated already by sensory modalities.
> Our brains live in a dark, quiet, wet place. That is the reality.
> It is only by means of our senses that we get the illusion of being out
> there in the world. In a way, our bodies are a form of telepresence,
> operated by our brains, huddling safe in their little caves of bone.
>
> Uploading also does not necessarily mean operating in virtual reality
> independent of the physical universe. Of course if the new system is
> super-fast, it may not be desirable to spend too much time waiting
> for things to happen in the physical universe, so naturally we would
> turn to some form of VR which can operate at a more convenient speed.
> But manipulating the physical universe will still be a necessary and
> important activity. Even if you spend most of your time in a VR there
> needs to be construction, maintenance and defense of the physical
> substrate which runs the VR.
>
> > I suspect that a lot of people like the notion because it is the
> > "scientific" equivalent of "Heaven"...
>
> Now I think you are getting even more specific and picturing a very
> special kind of VR, where you have fantasy wish-fulfillment. I
> suspect that this will be a popular form of recreation but will not
> be the only mode in which people interact in the future.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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