CurtAdams@aol.com wrote:
> If it's not there, something is still going around redacting everything
> to look like it is. That also requires a staggering amount of work, and
No, that's not right. It would suffice if there was something that is just
making you think you see what you see. Given what little we know about (such
figments of our non-existing imagination as) aphasias and ataxias, tweaking
representational systems will be negligable work for an SI. Whether you see
a flock of wild geese, or pink furred Dumbos, it's a diff of a few bits, if
you happen to live in fakeland.
> is also thoroughly incompatible with what we do with sims.
True, a brute force sim tends to do all the work explicitly. However,
this is not a problem if you have brute force to spare, and can afford
to run lightyears over lightyears of Planck scale-sized voxels without
even exerting yourself. Remember, what you learned to think of as
expensive, is based on a denizen's view.
> Oops, sorry, I see the rest of your post is jestfully taking a position
> similar to mine. I'll leave the anti-solipcism argument as I think some
> people will make it seriously.
I think the simulation argument to be exceedingly sterile. Barring evidence,
it's not worth sparing you're neurotransmitters over. God knows there are
more pressing issues at hand.
> Since when are we limited to direct sensoric experience? There's lots of
> people investigating this in sophisticated ways. Are you seriously proposing
> solipcism?
I'm not. I think it's silly.
However, if one is taking the fool's view, there's no point in going half-way.
Let's take the plunge all the way down, doppler-shifted screaming all along.
Whatever you're seeing is passed through the bottlenecks of your senses, and
whatever you'll find in your memory. Worse, it's what you think you think you
think and remember. Given (such mythical characters you think you've read) as
Sacks and Luria, don't you think an SI puppet-player will make you jump around
and say/think/believe whatever it pleases?
Okay, now back to our regular programme, and pray pay no attention to the man
behind the curtain.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:41 MDT