On Fri, 9 Apr 1999, The Baileys wrote:
> Let me preface my remarks by saying that the Matrix has been the
> conversational portal that has allowed me to broach many of the concepts of
> transhumanism to people that I would not otherwise have the chance to
> discuss these concepts with.
I have not had the chance to talk about the movie with any non-extropians yet, but I agree that this movie (and new hollywood meme I suspect) is likely to be beneficial for people like us.
> Consider the raw computing power required to simulate the entire biosphere
> in complete detail down to at least the atomic level. Billions of human
> minds. The position, momentum, etc. of every particle. What happens when
> an astrophysicists study the universe, guess now the Matrix has to account
> for the rest of the universe too (or at least that part that is being
> observed). Which leads me to the most significant blunder of all...
I was thinking about this too. At first I thought it strange that the AIs were running around in the matrix itself rather than just "deleting the appropriate file" as someone suggested. But, given the complexity involved, this makes more sense. Might as well use the intended interface of the Matrix.
So I guess this (bigger) conceptual problem fills in the smaller one mentioned previously ;-)
(this is the same argument I use to show that I'm not likely to be a "brain in a vat" as in the classic solipsist thought experiment)
-- Jason Spencer spencer@ualberta.ca http://www.ualberta.ca/~spencer