> 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.)