Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: tcourtoi@jarthur.claremont.edu (Todd Courtois) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: Drexler on immortality, source of nano books. Message-ID: Date: 23 Mar 90 02:42:09 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711 Lines: 34 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu hmmmmmmmmmm Perhaps we should do a bit of cross-posting on this topic with sci.virtual.worlds..... It seems to me that what a few people have suggested is that we *become part of* a virtual reality. That is, once you have made the real world representable inside a computer, why not stick the person inside the computer to experience the world. I think the thread about "tapes" and "experiences" having to do with the limitations of memory are pretty much irrelevant. In making the leap from a biological mind and soul to an electronic/nanotech brain, I assume that we will develop whole new concepts for memory; just look at stuff like multitasking and windowing for examples. It isn't so much what you remember, but what you want to access *right now*. It seems obvious that physical representations for ourselves using robotics, etc. will be feasible. However, I am still wondering about the fundemental concept of *moving* your mind into a computer, and by this I mean to exclude the idea of *copying* your mind into a machine. Even if you could simulate the brain on a neuron-by-neuron basis, can you move your consciousness and your soul also? I'd like some feedback on this....... This is a very intriguing thread. Thanks for introducing it!!!! --Todd Courtois .sig not included [Remember the Utility Fog? In a Utility Fog world, there would be a fairly seamless spectrum between existing in the real world, and being a simulation. This makes for an interesting environment... --JoSH]