[MURG] Real / Not real world?

[Ed Minchau]

 --- Thomas Weber <aad1trailmaker at yahoo.ca> wrote: > 
--- Eric:
> > 2. An uploaded mind's speed will vary with the
> speed
> > of the hardware on which it runs, but for two
> people
> > to communicate easily, they'll both need to run at
> > the
> > same speed. I imagine this will tend to create a
> > 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.
> > 
> > The problem here comes from interaction with the
> > "real
> > world," which is running at a rather slow speed. I
> > know of some people who have expressed interest in
> > visiting the real world after being uploaded.

The "real world" was an unfortunate choice of words. 
These uploaded minds will be uploaded onto a substrate
of some kind; as (I believe) Eugene said, ignore the
hardware level at your own peril.

It will however be a different level of experience.  A
mind that has an operating speed a million times
faster than a human mind will not simply live exactly
as a human does (just a million times faster). 
Instead it implies a different quality of existence
altogether.

Suppose the uploaded mind fits on a substrate of about
a liter in volume.  Suppose further that this is
mounted inside a robot body; the features may be made
to resemble the subject in the prime of life. 
Finally, suppose that this person is connected
wirelessly to the internet.  The final result looks
like, acts like, remembers as and thinks like the
original person, only thinking a million times faster
and connected to the sum total of human knowledge -
and to all other uploads connected to the net.

The experience would still be in the "real world", but
the "real world" suddenly got a whole lot more
interesting and complex.  And the upload might start
as the original person and retain much of the
personality, but would rapidly develop a whole new
quality of thinking.  Extra memory and coprocessors
might be added, resulting in new levels of
abstraction.  In short, it is not simply the speed of
thought which is enhanced, it is the enhanced quality
of thought that matters.

Communication between such an upload and the people
around him would be exactly the same as before; mostly
by body language, facial expression, and speech.  Only
this uploaded mind would have constant access to the
internet and other uploads (the Telepathic Markup
Language?).

Other possibilities exist.  Anne McCaffery's "the Ship
Who Sang" comes to mind as something similar to an
upload; Helva's entire body was encased and floating
in liquid, every sensory and motor nerve connected via
hardware to the exterior, all of her bodily needs
taken care of by the machinery which surrounded her.  

Uploading takes this experience only a tiny bit
further.  An uploaded mind might become a shipmind,
serving as the brains of the ship, connected to every
sensor and actuator on board, all computers, all
communication equipment.  The person becomes the ship
(would a ship with a male uploaded mind running it
still be called "she"?).  Heck, why not? a couple of
decades working in deep space, then a few years shore
leave in the android body...

Ed

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