Re: what it's like to be uploaded

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Tue Feb 22 2000 - 20:45:04 MST


At 10:08 PM 22/02/00 EST, Nadia wrote:

>damien? I am still waiting to hear your description... ; - )

Might as well ask an ape what it's like to sit silently in front of a pad
and do calculus for hours. Or make dreamy love to the accompaniment of
sublime music.

I'd guess the closest we can come to imagining it (which we categorically
can't, so why bother?) is what the others have said: an extended sense of
somewhat inertialess self--you don't want to be *totally* skiddy--with
senses as far and subtle as the probes can reach, partially or optionally
merged consciousness with others, enhanced aptitudes as part of the thing,
maybe with cognitive and affective partitions that can be switched on and
off.

What I'm fairly certain it *won't* be like is Captain Future zooming
through the asteroid belt in her souped-up space chariot, having
stereotyped visceral thrills galore, or even teleporting to the stars for
more of the same.

Damien (only half loaded)



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