X-Message-Number: 12990
From: 
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 22:06:18 EST
Subject: timely computing

And another amusing thought on computers doing simulations of people:

We already know that a digital, serial computer does not work in real time 
and cannot do more than one thing at a time. In fact, it usually cannot even 
do one thing at one time, because it must ordinarily do a great many 
calculations before arriving at an updated value of some life parameter, or 
one component of a vector etc.

But now we can also reflect that even the ORDER of events need not 
correspond, in the computer and the real world, or the simulated world.

For whatever reason, it might in some cases be convenient for the computer to 
do calculations corresponding to events at a range of future times. The 
results would of course be LABELED in the correct order, but not developed in 
that order. Does this bother anybody?

"Backward, turn backward, Oh Time in thy flight." If a computer could infer 
future history, why not past history? Instead of working forward from an 
initial data set, why not work backward? The computer would be generating 
sets of numbers corresponding to earlier and earlier quantum states of the 
subjects and their environment. Would the subjects then be "living" in 
reverse? What would that feel like?

Does this bother anybody?

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12990