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Ask HN: Your brain gets connected to a supercomputer. What do you do next?

5 points by trifit 5y ago

doublerabbit 5y ago
Step backwards throughout my life and watch the outcomes that came to be if I chose A instead of B and vice versa. Then carry out what happened in the opposite in the present thas creating infinity.
politelemon 5y ago
Install Doom.
Phileosopher 5y ago
Scan for hardware errors and reroute as needed. Then, defrag all stray neural clusters. Once I've got bare metal, I'd consider what my OS options are and check for upgrades. I might even be able to run Windows 11! Then, I'd check the cybersecurity policies in place, probably VM inside a VM just for fun. After that, I'd probably get to some light evening reading over the entire works of that Bill Shakspeare guy who keeps getting ripped off.
moltke 5y ago
Make sure the supercomputer is running free software.
spansoa 5y ago
Download every repo on Sourceforge and Github and create a hyper-intelligent AI that is hell-bent on traversing the Universe, even at the expense of human lives, so that the light of consciousness never gets put out.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  Kill humans so that "the light of consciousness never gets put out"? That's... a rather twisted moral compass, there.
  - kfrzcode 5y ago
    A moral compass is no match for cosmic omnipresence.
  - Dracophoenix 5y ago
    I think this is supposed to be a reference to Asimov's "The Last Question" rather than a serious answer.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
s-t-876 5y ago
there are way too many things I want to do if this was safe and possible but probably the first thing is to get a direct contact with NASA and start working on better imaging of exoplanets, I would spend most of my other time on the most difficult/ near impossible science problems and see how many I could solve and at what rate per day.
me_me_mu_mu 5y ago
I’m not saying specifics but let’s just say some people will not be happy. And that’s okay.
AnimalMuppet 5y ago
Disconnect it. Being connected to a supercomputer solves exactly zero of my needs, wants, or desires.
nyx 5y ago
Not exactly the same question, but I think this fictional Wikipedia article is persuasive on this sort of topic: https://qntm.org/mmacevedo https://qntm.org/mmacevedo Won't spoil it, but it's definitely worth a read.
- kfrzcode 5y ago
  > [...] ultimately discovered to have been attributable to misconfigured simulated haptic links, and was shut down after only 7 minutes and 15 seconds of virtual elapsed time, as requested by MMAcevedo. Nevertheless, the experiment was deemed an overwhelming success.
vimy 5y ago
Transfer one cent from every bank account on earth to mine.
stevenalowe 5y ago
Reboot
phendrenad2 5y ago
My brain is already connected to a supercomputer, but the interface speed is very slow (keyboard/mouse/hands/eyes). If I had a neural connection, I could probably train my brain to write one piece of code while squashing simple programming errors in another, at the same time.

5 points by trifit 5y ago

Step backwards throughout my life and watch the outcomes that came to be if I chose A instead of B and vice versa. Then carry out what happened in the opposite in the present thas creating infinity.

politelemon 5y ago

Install Doom.

Phileosopher 5y ago

Scan for hardware errors and reroute as needed. Then, defrag all stray neural clusters. Once I've got bare metal, I'd consider what my OS options are and check for upgrades. I might even be able to run Windows 11! Then, I'd check the cybersecurity policies in place, probably VM inside a VM just for fun. After that, I'd probably get to some light evening reading over the entire works of that Bill Shakspeare guy who keeps getting ripped off.

moltke 5y ago

Make sure the supercomputer is running free software.

spansoa 5y ago

Download every repo on Sourceforge and Github and create a hyper-intelligent AI that is hell-bent on traversing the Universe, even at the expense of human lives, so that the light of consciousness never gets put out.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago
Kill humans so that "the light of consciousness never gets put out"? That's... a rather twisted moral compass, there.
- kfrzcode 5y ago
  A moral compass is no match for cosmic omnipresence.
- Dracophoenix 5y ago
  I think this is supposed to be a reference to Asimov's "The Last Question" rather than a serious answer.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

s-t-876 5y ago

there are way too many things I want to do if this was safe and possible but probably the first thing is to get a direct contact with NASA and start working on better imaging of exoplanets, I would spend most of my other time on the most difficult/ near impossible science problems and see how many I could solve and at what rate per day.

me_me_mu_mu 5y ago

I’m not saying specifics but let’s just say some people will not be happy. And that’s okay.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago

Disconnect it. Being connected to a supercomputer solves exactly zero of my needs, wants, or desires.

nyx 5y ago

Not exactly the same question, but I think this fictional Wikipedia article is persuasive on this sort of topic: https://qntm.org/mmacevedo https://qntm.org/mmacevedo Won't spoil it, but it's definitely worth a read.

kfrzcode 5y ago
> [...] ultimately discovered to have been attributable to misconfigured simulated haptic links, and was shut down after only 7 minutes and 15 seconds of virtual elapsed time, as requested by MMAcevedo. Nevertheless, the experiment was deemed an overwhelming success.

vimy 5y ago

Transfer one cent from every bank account on earth to mine.

stevenalowe 5y ago

Reboot

phendrenad2 5y ago

My brain is already connected to a supercomputer, but the interface speed is very slow (keyboard/mouse/hands/eyes). If I had a neural connection, I could probably train my brain to write one piece of code while squashing simple programming errors in another, at the same time.