From: Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@idiom.com)
Date: Fri Nov 12 1999 - 17:36:06 MST
Hal Finney writes:
> Even in this forum we often succumb to a form of chauvinism, in
> which any future which isn't dominated by humans is seen as a
> failure. Particularly with regard to predicted human vs machine
> wars, we automatically side with the humans, without asking which
> group is more deserving morally. We need to start thinking in
> broader terms and not identifying so closely with our genetics and
> metabolism.
I honestly do not know whether or not "I" (the dynamic pattern
encoded in my synapses, or however you care to take it) can be
neatly extricated from my genetics and metabolism. It may be so,
but the question is still wide open. I nonetheless accept the
possibility of mind uploading because I know that in principle all
details of genetic expression and metabolism can be simulated with
a sufficiently powerful computer system. But that kind of uploading
would not leave my genetics and metabolism behind, it would simply
change the "platform" on which they are implemented. I hope that
after such a transformation, function-preserving repairs and redesign
will be easier than in the flesh, but I do not expect them to be
easy, by any means.
In the meantime, I may have to compete for resources with
superintelligent machines that can outperform me in every department.
I'm not too worried about this because I understand the Principle
of Comparative Advantage. Nor do I have any intention of offing
myself just because my platform is suddenly obsolete and cannot be
redesigned and retrofitted rapidly enough to keep up with events.
I intend to maintain a niche in whatever economy/ecosystem develops
whether or not I can make a transcendent leap into posthumanity or
must remain as profoundly human as I am now (with the exception of
a few little niceties e. g. limited lifespan, speed of thought)
for many centuries to come.
-- arkuat
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