Re: Meme trace: origin of "Jupiter-sized brains"?

From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri Aug 13 1999 - 16:06:13 MDT


Anthony Garcia <agarcia@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> writes:

> Question: where did the phrase "Jupiter-sized brain" arise? I recall
> first seeing it used by Perry Metzger. Does anyone have another
> pointer to it?

I think the origin traces back to Keith Henson's idea of converting
the mass of Jupiter into computing resources to run versions of
himself ("In the future, 9 out of 10 people will be Keith" :-). Later
the Jupiter-brain idea has been discussed on and off in transhumanist
circles.

I guess Stapledon was the first author to suggest a planet-sized mind,
but then again, he was first with a lot of things.

-- 
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Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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