X-Message-Number: 8865 Date: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 08:05:17 -0800 From: "Joseph J. Strout" <> Subject: Re: CryoNet #8858 - #8863 Sorry to go on about this, but there's a clear misconception here... In Cryomsg #8861, Olaf Henny wrote: >Joe, when in a couple of centuries the two of us, you as a mind >uploaded construct and I in for of ever patched up flesh get >caught in a fire, your circuits will melt about the same time as >my brains will boil out. Unless you will have an uploading >facility right in your home, I doubt, that you will update it >weekly... No, you don't need an uploading facility in your home. You need only a thick cable and a mass-storage device. Uploading a biological brain is an incredibly difficult task, that will no doubt require a huge expensive facility. But once it's done, then making backups is trivial; artificial brains will no doubt be built with a simple output port for exactly this purpose. Plug yourelf in, hit the switch, and wake up 8 hours later (or whatever) with a fresh backup. So when the two of us get caught in a fire, I will basically have up to a week's worth of total retrograde amnesia, but you will be regrettably dead. >Even if it is as easy as >shaving in the morning, but not as visible, if it remains undone, >there is great temptation to delay. Well, that will vary from person to person, no doubt. But I suspect that when death becomes rare, it will seem even more tragic than it is today. And this would encourage people to spend their one night a week (or month, or whatever suits you) in making sure it doesn't happen. >Here is a chilling thought: What if the above fire catches us in >the uploading facility? >:-> This is tragic indeed, because then the patient(s) at the facility will be lost, when they were right on the verge of being saved. >>But there's *still* probably no such thing as immortality, because >>ultimately the universe will run down. > >Where is your optimism? By that time we surely will have the >capability to hop to another universe... Well, I *did* say "probably." ;) >Let's just simple call it attaining megalife (one word to give it >more punch). ;-) That's an idea, but I agree with Will that we need something a little more respectable-sounding. "Megalife" sounds like either a comic book character or a multi-vitamin to me. Cheers, -- Joe ,------------------------------------------------------------------. | Joseph J. Strout Department of Neuroscience, UCSD | | http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/ | `------------------------------------------------------------------' [ Help stop spam: http://www.imc.org/ube-sol.html ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8865