X-Message-Number: 29297
Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:56:13 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: wish fulfillment

Eugen Leitl very kindly mentions a book that I wrote,
exploring the possibilities for copying multiple human
intelligences into a very large computer system.

First, I have to point out that almost every idea in that
novel came from Mind Children, the wonderful speculative
nonfiction book by Hans Moravec. I gave him attribution, and
he gave me a quote for the back cover of my hardcover
edition--what a great guy! Vernor Vinge also helped me a lot
with the concepts.

Second, there isn't much cryonics in it. I have always seen
cryonics as a stopgap, an inadequate answer to the problem of
mortality. Biology is a horrible mess of insanely complicated
processes supported by extremely vulnerable reactions, and
the sooner we copy ourselves into something more stable, the
better.

That said, I'm happy that Eugen read the book. Not many
people get to write their precise recipe for ultimate wish
fulfillment; and if someone else reads it, and even likes it,
who could ask for more?

Well, actually, I could, because the possibilities that I
imagined for 2030 seem increasingly unlikely. Progress moves
much more slowly than those of us with an Extropian mindset
might like to believe.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=29297