Re: Uploaded Omniscience

From: Alfio Puglisi (puglisi@arcetri.astro.it)
Date: Thu Jun 26 2003 - 02:55:18 MDT

  • Next message: JAY DUGGER: "Re: Uploaded Omniscience"

    On Wed, 25 Jun 2003, Lee Corbin wrote:

    >The psychological problem that most people have
    >against uploading, of course, is that of "being
    >inside a computer", or of knowing that one is really
    >just on a silicon chip.

    I vaguely recall a Greg Bear SF book, "Eternity" (the sequel to the more
    famous Eon), where among other things ...

    (SPOILERS)

    ...humanity is more or less in perpetual war with an alien race called the
    Jarts. A captured Jart is uploaded into a computer, and then forgotten
    about. The main character, for some reason I don't recall, proceeds to
    load the Jart in the spare memory of his brain implants, believing that he
    can control the alien, but he only starts a battle of will with an
    uncertain outcome.

    Mentioned in the book is a fictional theorem, stating (if I recall
    correctly) that a mind does not have a way to know if it is uploaded or
    not, or where, if the necessary measures are taken. It seems that the Jart
    does not know about the theorem, because it discovers right away what's
    happening...

    Ciao,
    Alfio



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