Re: Flesh: what is it good for?

Chris Hind (bholat@earthlink.net)
Thu, 05 Sep 1996 11:36:13 -0700


>Why does being living in a virtual world have to preclude living in the
>"real" world? Why not create a virtual-real-world inside of the virtual
>world. The actions in the virtual-real-world would correspond to
>actions made by a robot in the real world and as a result you could do
>any real-world work that needed to be done while still staying in a
>virtual world. It seems to me a system like that would allow for
>continued interaction in the real world while seamlessly continuing to
>exist in a virtual world.
I rather suggested biological humanoid drone bodies where there would be a
box in the head which would be a computer and there would be a two way
interface between the box and the wetware motor functions to control the
body while sending info from the senses directly to the computer in the box.
This would allow you to be uploaded to the box in the head or alternatively
control it remotely and still let you contact the real world but the outside
world you would rather manipulate quite easily with nanites so whats the
point of going through all that stuff to create a humanoid drone.

>One thing I don't understand is why anyone could possibly want to live
>in the physical real-world when they could have the chance to have their
>wildest dreams come true in a virtual world. In a virtual world there
>are no laws of physics! A person in a virtual world would be able to do
>anything in any way in any form they wanted to be in. There would be no
>limits to the experiences which could be had or the accomplishments
>which could be made! Uploaded beings would think much faster than
>fleshy beings and would therefore be able to accomplish anything that
>can be accomplished in the real world in a tiny fraction of the time!
>What would space exploration mean if people could be uploaded? Couldn't
>any of the current unmanned space probes that are currently in use be
>used to ferry uploaded beings to the far reaches of the galaxy? Isn't
>the major limiting factor on space travel today the problem of
>sustaining the life of fleshy, oxygen-breathing, limited-life-span
>humans? If we get rid of the flesh we get rid of the barriers.
>With all these things going for virtual worlds and uploading, I have a
>hard time comprehending how anyone would want to choose the limited,
>constrained life of a fleshy, oxygen breathing, limited-life-span human.

Thats funny, I think I've meantioned *ALL* this before but still some people
don't get the idea. Oh well, maybe we should create an extropians
mailinglist FAQ or do we have one? I'd love to create it if it hasn't
already been done.