From: den Otter (neosapient@geocities.com)
Date: Tue May 18 1999 - 09:07:59 MDT
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> From: O'Regan, Emlyn <Emlyn.ORegan@actew.com.au>
> I'm a bit worried about all this talk of Jupiter sized brains (although
> I'm guilty of it myself).
>
> Wouldn't such a thing be a target? If someone was annoying you who was
> dependent on a Jupiter sized brain, then wouldn't you be tempted to lob
> a couple of fusion bombs at it (sorry all you pacifists out there).
Of course the J-brain would have appropriate defenses (like a massive cloud
of nanites and other bots surrounding it), so you'd need a lot more than a
couple of fusion bombs to destroy it, certainly if you want to survive the
encounter.
> Also, in my experience, computers have been getting *smaller* as time
> wends its way towards whatever it wends its way towards. While we're all
> doing this "my brain's bigger than yours" stuff, transhumans might be
> more impressed by tiny, weeny little brains. "I've got the new
> google-flops processor(s) running my brain, it's made out of quarks, and
> is the size of the head of a match - oh wait, I've dropped it, hey,
> guys, can you help me find my brain, it's here somewhere, no, don't step
> there, aaarrgghhhh *gurgle*).
Right, and that's why you need if not a big brain, then at least a big *head*
(so that no-one will step on it, or more realistically so that it isn't disassembled
by a couple of stray nanites, vaporized by a laser beam etc.)
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