From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Aug 04 1999 - 02:06:26 MDT
> Eliezer S. Yudkowsky <sentience@pobox.com> wrote:
The whole uploading business is almost impossible to navigate because
you aren't just trying to beat faster-developing technologies, you're
trying to beat *prerequisite* technologies. Nanotechnology as a
prerequisite for uploading, for example.
I'm not sure that this is *strictly* true. Nanotech (hard diamondoid
type) makes uploading relatively easy by allowing things like bush
robots. However, I can probably come up with a reasonable path
combining biobots (which could be engineered today) and current
chips that do neuronal electronic interfaces that can do an upload.
It seems clear (to me), that there are no show stoppers in the
current semiconductor scaling until around ~2013. At that point
we should have brain-equivalent desktop supercomputers. A little
engineering to make real analog "neuron" chips and you should be able
to have brain-EQ hardware without the messy problem of having to
convert an analog system into a digital one (and solve the nasty
problems of developing better (& realistic) algorithms to replace
specific brain functions (vision, etc.).
> And then with the
> nanotechnology for computing and finer neuroimaging for cognitive
> science, building an AI becomes much easier.
Agreed, with diamondoid nanotech, the nanobots have a much easier
time monitoring neuron activity than say biobots would.
> Accelerating uploading is a lot harder.
It only requires a frame of mind shift. If a few million people
became convinced it was doable, I think it would move quickly.
AI may be in the economic interests of corporations while uploading
is in the personal self-interest of individuals. As the saying
goes -- nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
Imagine .... Uploading@home...
An interesting topic for Extro5 might be *realistic* paths for
uploading.
Robert
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