[ExI] simulation as an improvement over reality

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 10:33:38PM +0000, BillK wrote:

> Think about it.
> You have uploads living at a speed many many times faster than humans.
> So much so that every lifetime (virtual 100 years) if the uploaded

Presumably, the lifetimes for each species will follow a power law.

> mind bothers to look out at the real world, the human standing there
> hasn't moved. You can't communicate with a statue.
> So you go your own way and leave the statues alone.

No, you most assuredly don't leave them alone. You're building
at maximum speed the physical layer allows you. This is very slow
by your standards, but very fast by outside standards.

You're sharing the same physical layer. If it doesn't sound ominous,
it should.
 
> The uploads are manipulating a virtual reality (of some form). The

You're manipulating a virtual reality (of some form). It's the model
your brain builds of the environment.

> wait to manipulate the real world would be too long. So in their

Yeah, and we never left Africa. I mean, we're still roaming the
savannas. 

> virtual world they can do whatever takes their fancy. Fight dragons,
> explore designed worlds, talk to invented aliens, etc. After a

Everyone seems to think everybody will be so very smart.
Diversity works in all directions.

> thousand lifetimes, who knows what they will be like or what they will
> be interested in.
> 
> My speculation was that after a thousand lifetimes they might run out
> of interesting things to do and just switch off. If they did, then

Right, every single species on Earth eventually commits suicide.
Of terminal boredom. Happens everywhere, happens all the time.

> that would appear to happen very quickly to the statues outside.

They're dead, Jim.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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