From: Avatar Polymorph (avatarpolymorph@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Sep 04 2002 - 19:50:42 MDT
HUBERT MANIA WRITES:
"HI, I AM INTERESTED IN A SPECIAL FUTURE SCENARIO OF "DISTRIBUTED BACKUPS".
GIVEN THE FACTS THAT A CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFER IS FINALLY FEASIBLE AND I HAVE
MADE FOUR OR FIVE EXTERNAL SOFTWARE MODELS OF MY PERSONALITY WHO WILL BE
UPDATED EVERY WEEK OR SO AND WHO ARE STORED AT FOUR OR FIVE HOPEFULLY SAFE
PLACES, I GUESS I AM STILL DEPENDENT ON ANOTHER HUMAN OR AI WHO IS FRIENDLY
ENOUGH OR WILL BE PAID TO ACTIVATE ONE OF THE COPIES, IF I SHOULD PERISH
SURPRISINGLY IN AN ACCIDENT. WOULDN`T THE SOFTWARE HAVE TO BE EXTERNALLY
INSERTED IN THE FANCY DRIVE OF A ROBOT BODY - "ROBODY" (TM) - IN ORDER TO
LET ME RUN AGAIN?
DOES ANYONE OF YOU SEE A CHANCE TO BE *INDEPENDENT OF EXTERNAL HELP*, WHEN
IT COMES TO ACTIVATE ONE OF THE COPIES, IF SUCH AN UNFORSEEABLE SUDDEN DEATH
SHOULD OCCUR? SHOULD I "SACRIFY" AT LEAST ONE OF THE FIVE AND LET HIM RUN A
PARALLEL LIFE, AND - THOUGH HE WILL BE BIFURCATING FROM MY "EXPERIENCE LINE"
- HOPE, HE WILL HAVE STRONG ENOUGH TIES TO ME, SO HE WILL ACTIVATE ONE OF
THE "SLEEPING" BACKUPS AND THEN LIVE A LIFE OF HIS OWN AND LEAVES ME ALONE?
I THINK EINSTEIN WOULD HAVE CALLED THIS SOLUTION NOT BEAUTIFUL ENOUGH TO BE
TRUE.
I AM INTERESTED IN THE QUESTION, IF SOMEONE WHO TRUSTS NOBODY, NEITHER HIS
FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS NOR THE MOST PROFESSIONAL "BACKUP ACTIVATION
SERVICE TEAM", MIGHT BE ABLE TO WAKE UP A BACKUP WHICH MUST BE ABLE TO MOVE
ANYWHERE. HAVING YOUR SOFTWARE BACKUP SUSPENDED AND SLEEPING IN THE WORLD
WIDE WEB DOESN`T SEEM TO BE GOOD SOLUTION EITHER. THERE MUST STILL BE AN
EXTERNAL SIGNAL OR HANDS THAT PUTS THE SOFTWARE INTO A MOVABLE ARTIFICIAL
BODY. MAYBE THE IDEA OF A ROBODY, WHICH MUST BE ABLE TO MOVE FREELY FROM A
TO B ANYWHERE ON THIS PLANET, IS TOO RESTRICTED. BUT SHOULDN`T WE AT LEAST
HAVE THE OPTION OF 3D MOVEMENT INSTEAD OF BEING STORED AWAY SOMEWHERE
WAITING FOR A FRIENDLY HAND TO GET US GOING?
THE ONLY SOLUTION I CAN THINK OF RIGHT NOW, IS TO ALWAYS HAVE A SLEEPING
COPY OF MINE INSERTED IN THE ROBODY. THIS COPY THEN MUST BE PROGRAMMED TO
ACTIVATE ITSELF AFTER A CERTAIN PERIOD, LET`S SAY THREE DAYS, WHERE HE HAS
NOT RECEIVED A "CONTINUE SLEEPING!" SIGNAL FROM ME - AND *ONLY* ME. BUT THIS
WOULD MEAN TO TAKE REGULAR CARE OF AT LEAST ONE OF YOUR COPIES. AND STILL
THERE MIGHT BE A RESENTFUL FAMILY MEMBER WHO WITHIN THE THREE DAY PERIOD,
COULD SIMPLY EJECT THIS SOFTWARE BACKUP OF MINE OUT OF THE ROBODY SO IT
BECOMES "NOBODY`S ROBODY".
DO YOU THINK PRIVATE ACTIVATION COMPANIES WILL BE TRUSTWORTHY ENOUGH OR
SHOULD IT BE MADE A PUBLIC ISSUE WITH TRUSTWORTHY HUMANS OR AI TO DO THE
JOB? IS THE ISSUE OF DISTRUBUTED COPIES INEVITABLY CONNECTED TO A PERFECTLY
WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER HUMAN BEING (WHO MIGHT DIE IN THE SAME CAR
CRASH, TOO) OR A PAID PROFESSIONAL SERVICE? IF SO, THE WORLDWIDE DEVELOPMENT
OF TRUST AND UNITY BETWEEN HOMO SAPIENS SPECIMEN IS A MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE
FOR POSTHUMAN LIFE."
==============================================
This is one way of looking at it. I guess it depends if you believe in
Tipler or not. If you are talking about a quantum duplicate/split in the
fashion of Tipler that is one matter.
If you are talking about copies of you on the rough molecular/atomic level
(up to electro-chemical in the case of a trad. human brain) then they're
just copies. You may feel emotional satisfaction in having another version
of you with your memories (or your software as you put it) but it isn't you.
Cell by cell or neuron by neuron or neuron-equivalent by neuron-equivalent
(e.g. sectional substrates of computronium) replacement of damaged areas is
what you really want. This is possible with moderate tech (e.g. nanotech)
which lies just below midtech.
For example, a skull with a diamondoid cover, computronium inplating and
intra-cellular/inter-cellular nanotech could continuously map the entire
normal human brain and its add-ons/modifications, plus a map of previous
states. If damage occurred that was localized a quick cell-by-cell repair
could be effected. If the neural framework was established with inbuilt
redundancy the neural "map" could withdraw into a more compressed substrate,
on a continuous and cell-by-cell basis, i.e. if the left hemisphere was
destroyed by an impacting body the patterning could be transferred into the
right hemisphere (now combined left-right) into the "redundancy" sectors).
An alternative solution closer to your original notion is to have two or
more brains or brain/bodies with continuous broadcast linkage and
interchange between them. In this case patterning transferral (including on
a cell-by-cell or section-by-section basis) occurs anyway and emergency
coagulation into one brain and/or body can occur in a situation where damage
has occurred.
It is VITAL to note that continuity of the connection between the physical
substrate sections is essential to "your" continuity. People who currently
die and are revived still retain roughly the electro-chemical state of the
brain in the coma-like interregnum.
Under high-tech conditions (which many will argue are utterly
unproveable/hypothetical) it may be possible to use the universe itself as a
type of "virtual" or "malleable" reality up to and including (consensually
obtained) access to informaional maps of subsectors (including neural
mapping) and quantum engineering. This would enable perfect restoration of
damage, either on a cell-by-cell basis or through Tiplerian quantum
splitting/transfer.
This notion of full protective shielding is present in Singularitarian
circles as Sysop.
So my advise to you as to "back ups" if you're worried is to keep 2 or 3
parts of your brains separate (even in a computronium bank) but in
continuous broadcast linkage with the rest of your brain. Where your body
(if you have one) or bodies is situation is a matter of personal taste.
I should reiterate that "software" could only be fully "loadable" onto
hardware in the sense you are thinking of if such was possible right down to
the quantum level, in which case we are now in a Tiplerian scenario.
Anything short of that and any discontinuity of connection and you have a
"close-analogue" duplicate of yourself which is not you. Though the analogy
doesn't really hold and is a bit dumb, I suppose the equivalent would be a
PC - if you turn off the computer and restart it, the harddrive is
temporarily in a coma but if you wipe the hard drive clean and install a
back-up cd you have a "close-analogue" duplicate. If you compared the hard
drive before the wipe and after the re-installation you would see atomic
differences. (Though the same effects occur with the experience of time
itself, our consciousness copes with this by the "closest continuity" and
"cell by cell" safeguards.)
Avatar Polymorph
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