[MURG] oh, the other thing

[Eugen Leitl]

On Sun, May 23, 2004 at 09:31:30PM -0700, digfarenough wrote:

> I guess when I say I'm going to offer two things to
> consider, I should include both in the same message. I
> can count, really.
> 
> 2. An uploaded mind's speed will vary with the speed
> of the hardware on which it runs, but for two people

If you had a worker who'd create twice the value in the same time as the
other, asking the same compensation, whom would you hire, if you want to stay
competitive?

No one has abolished the rat race. Competition and evolution still runs as
strong than ever. 

Because of this everyone will ratchet up to run at the fastest pace
affordable (which is at least a factor of 10^6, and possibly up to 10^9).
It's basically a power issue, and power is cheap, especially in space.

> to communicate easily, they'll both need to run at the
> same speed. I imagine this will tend to create a

If you want to talk to to me, why should I slow down, and miss critical
issues? You could speed up yourself.

> common speed (or speeds) at which most people will run
> their mind, and these will likely be much faster than
> real time. Let's pick an arbitrary common speed of 32
> times faster than real time.

Why not 320? 3200? 320000? 3200000? 32000000?

> The problem here comes from interaction with the "real
> world," which is running at a rather slow speed. I

Given that the real world is effectively static but at nanoscale, it's best
addressed by equivalents of our reflexes. I.e., mostly autonomous systems
(mostly operating at nanoscale).

> know of some people who have expressed interest in
> visiting the real world after being uploaded.

Which "real world"? You're soaking in it. Ignore the hardware layer at your
peril. 
 
> The problem that these people may not have considered
> is that to spend a day in real time is to miss 32 days

Roughly 3 kYears at a 10^6 speedup, actually.

> of uploaded time, or even more if the uploads run
> faster. Anything more than a brief visit would require
> prohibitive amounts of time.

Right. So you don't visit, in person. You *live* there, remember.
 
> I think this would tend to further the divide between
> fleshers and uploaded people, and, although it isn't

Of course.

> necessarily a scientific concern, it's a social
> concern that ought to be addressed.

It's a social concern largely to the flesh people, obviously. Can they do
something about it, though? They certainly can't enforce anybody stepping
down to their time scale (they could try, but nobody would listen). They 
could upgrade themselves, though. It would be cheap, and probably even free,
because flesh people are wasteful in terms of space and resources. 

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
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