From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri Dec 10 1999 - 04:25:37 MST
Skye Howard <skyezacharia@yahoo.com> writes:
> If you had a really good holographic data storage
> system (one functionally as good or better in every
> respect as any modern memory storage) would it be
> possible to network the holographic matrix?
You don't need to go for actual holograms, the metaphor works just as
well for distributed storage. For example, a neural network stores a
memory in many connections, and if you lose some the memory just loses
a bit of detail. The same goes for optical holograms (there you lose
information too when you split it, but it looks like the whole thing
is there).
Redundant coding is likely much better. RAID storage is becoming
cheaper and cheaper. You have to pay for extra storage and some extra
net traffic, but it is just an increase in the proportionality
constant.
> Anyways, it has a lot of applications- for example,
> we talk about uploading on the list a lot. If the
> computer that contains an uploaded personality
> crashes... what then? Well, with some sort of
> holographic system, a stabler form of uploading could
> exist- one with less risk of destruction in the case
> of some disaster.
I have been thinking a bit about computation backup for distributed
uploads. If the left hemisphere computer goes down, then the right
hemisphere might wait until another left comes online, and then either
synchronise with it. This might of course mean that during crashes you
get "half-thoughts" that never get anywhere, but they would not be
consciously observable.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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