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If warp drives actually are feasible (either sub or super liminal), that'd be great. However, it seems to me that it's much more likely we'll travel between sta

by nynx 6y ago

If warp drives actually are feasible (either sub or super liminal), that'd be great. However, it seems to me that it's much more likely we'll travel between stars as digitized minds that are recorporialized at the destination.

apocalyptic0n3 6y ago
Out of curiosity, what is the state of this research? That's the Takeshi Kovacs solution, but I haven't seen any real jumps in that regard other than some new tech allowing the brain to control computers to some degree. And even if we do have that tech, we'd still have to be able to reach those destinations in the first place so we could establish outposts where our digitized minds could travel to. At the moment, the only way to do so is a generation ship capable of surviving the ~1000 years it would take to get to a new location with current technology.
- nynx 6y ago
  There is foundational research being done on destructive brain scanning and emulation. It is decades—at a minimum—away from being more realizable. You don't need to send a generation ship, just solar sails powered by massive laser installations that have enough tech on board to convert an asteroid into a receiver. To be fair, 1000 years is not very long when you have digital immortality.
  - tgv 6y ago
    Is there even an electrolytic cap that survives a 1000 year space trip?
    - nynx 6y ago
      Probably not right now, but I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. Anyhow, a laser propelled solar sail would make the journey to, say, alpha centuri in more like 20-40 years. There's really not much point in slow travel if you can, instead, launch a self-replicator, wait a few decades for it to get there, and then just cast on over.
komon 6y ago
That's only going to become a solution if you can convince people that the process preserves continuity of experience. How do I know that I actually wake up on the other side, instead of dying and having a clone with my memories wake up instead?
- nynx 6y ago
  I don't really see a difference. You experience a discontinuity every night when you sleep. Of course, this entire concept is reliant on materialism. If you believe in a soul, then I'd probably find it difficult to convince you that a digital copy of you is close enough to being you.
  - mooseburger 6y ago
    > you experience discontinuity every night when you sleep Something dubious about this. No one thinks they're annhiliated upon sleeping, then reconstituted upon waking. Even adhering to materialism, the problem with mind uploads is the same problem as with teleportation: a copy is being made. Destroying the original does not mean a consciousness transfer then magically occurs from the original to the target. For mind uploads, the only plausible sounding way around this is the Moravec transfer, but even that is reliant on the Ship of Theseus thought experiment having a definite answer.
    - nynx 6y ago
      Some people do think that. There are whole fields of philosophy about it. > Even adhering to materialism, the problem... If you don’t require continuous experience, then this issue goes away. You certainly didn’t experience living before you were conceived. My view is that consciousness is an emergent property of informational and processing structure of the brain (and possible other systems as well)—-I don’t see any physical issues with copies (other than that it might result in confusion and social problems).
      - hungryforcodes 6y ago

by nynx 6y ago

apocalyptic0n3 6y ago

Out of curiosity, what is the state of this research? That's the Takeshi Kovacs solution, but I haven't seen any real jumps in that regard other than some new tech allowing the brain to control computers to some degree. And even if we do have that tech, we'd still have to be able to reach those destinations in the first place so we could establish outposts where our digitized minds could travel to. At the moment, the only way to do so is a generation ship capable of surviving the ~1000 years it would take to get to a new location with current technology.

nynx 6y ago
There is foundational research being done on destructive brain scanning and emulation. It is decades—at a minimum—away from being more realizable. You don't need to send a generation ship, just solar sails powered by massive laser installations that have enough tech on board to convert an asteroid into a receiver. To be fair, 1000 years is not very long when you have digital immortality.
- tgv 6y ago
  Is there even an electrolytic cap that survives a 1000 year space trip?
  - nynx 6y ago
    Probably not right now, but I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. Anyhow, a laser propelled solar sail would make the journey to, say, alpha centuri in more like 20-40 years. There's really not much point in slow travel if you can, instead, launch a self-replicator, wait a few decades for it to get there, and then just cast on over.

komon 6y ago

That's only going to become a solution if you can convince people that the process preserves continuity of experience. How do I know that I actually wake up on the other side, instead of dying and having a clone with my memories wake up instead?

nynx 6y ago
I don't really see a difference. You experience a discontinuity every night when you sleep. Of course, this entire concept is reliant on materialism. If you believe in a soul, then I'd probably find it difficult to convince you that a digital copy of you is close enough to being you.
- mooseburger 6y ago
  > you experience discontinuity every night when you sleep Something dubious about this. No one thinks they're annhiliated upon sleeping, then reconstituted upon waking. Even adhering to materialism, the problem with mind uploads is the same problem as with teleportation: a copy is being made. Destroying the original does not mean a consciousness transfer then magically occurs from the original to the target. For mind uploads, the only plausible sounding way around this is the Moravec transfer, but even that is reliant on the Ship of Theseus thought experiment having a definite answer.
  - nynx 6y ago
    Some people do think that. There are whole fields of philosophy about it. > Even adhering to materialism, the problem... If you don’t require continuous experience, then this issue goes away. You certainly didn’t experience living before you were conceived. My view is that consciousness is an emergent property of informational and processing structure of the brain (and possible other systems as well)—-I don’t see any physical issues with copies (other than that it might result in confusion and social problems).
    - hungryforcodes 6y ago