[ExI] Technical Uploading Difficulties

Stefano Vaj stefano.vaj at gmail.com
Fri Mar 7 23:36:38 UTC 2008


On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 3:37 PM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> I agree. But "simulation" is ambiguous, I've always said.  A very, very
> good actor (especially if he's a superhuman AI), might simulate you
> just fine, fooling all your friends and relatives. In other words, this
> god-like being is just pulling the strings on a puppet.  Unfortunately,
> that counts as a successful simulation of you on some usages of the
> term.
>
> But to *emulate* you means that something really is you, just as one
> operating system may emulate another. I didn't make this distinction
> above when I first wrote, due to shortage of space.  A successful
> upload emulates you perfectly, has your thoughts and feelings (or,
> perhaps the ones you may have tomorrow), and your genuine
> internal experiences.
>

Sure. But I wonder whether after all the simulation in the first sense could
ever be "perfect", and if the only way to make it perfect would not be to
make it an emulation.

This makes me think, for instance of the explanation by Dennett of how and
why human beings may adopt behaviours that may be unfit in a Darwinian
sense. The points is that if some genes want to get the kind of flexibility
that we may offer them, they have to accept such a risk as well and accept
some "autonomy" from their "whisper".

Stefano Vaj
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