X-Message-Number: 4172 From: (Thomas Donaldson) Subject: optical computing Date: Sat, 8 Apr 1995 17:44:57 -0700 (PDT) I agree that we will probably turn to using light in our computers. I'm also very interested to see someone who is both interested in uploading and also discusses it in terms of neural nets. (Whether neural nets really fall under the definition of computers is another matter!). Fundamentally I doubt that there is any other way to effectively upload ourselves than into a machine working by way of neural nets --- though the exact neural nets are also likely to make a big difference. And of course, referring to a very local controversy about uploading, it seems to me an important fact that unlike computers, neural nets do not work on symbols as such. They are devices with great adaptive power in their responses to physical inputs: faces, voices, etc ... not just input of symbols. We still need to learn a great deal more about our brains and how they work before we can make any serious proposals about uploading. I personally think that by that time it wouldn't look like "uploading" at all: the word (wrongly or rightly) connotes something that you do to a computer program. Since we are not computer programs, something else will be required: especially if we use neural net devices, which (arguably, yes) are not computers. Best and long long life, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4172