[ExI] seamless uploading

[Keith Henson]

On Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 5:00 AM,  Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Extropes,

snip

> Reminiscent of a short-story fragment posted to the list In 98 or 99
> by Anders, about a cybernetically "connected" individual who
> experiences a sense of severe intellectual deficit when his machine
> connection goes down.  That was however a case of computer brain
> crash, rather than wet brain "retirement".

This has already started.  Humans are changing the way we remember
things, from remembering the information itself to remembering or
figuring out on the spot how to find it.  Here is a popular account of
an article in Science.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Internet Search Engines Are Changing the Way We Remember Things, Says Study
By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

While we know the brain is an adaptable tool, what we don't know is
exactly how adaptable. While individuals have different degrees of
memory skills such as retaining memorized information, it turns out
that the information age may be affecting those of us with access to
computers and search engines.

New research conducted at Columbia University has suggested that since
the advent of the Internet search engine, we don't need to memorize as
much information as before, since we know that data can be accessed
quickly with just a few keystrokes. The information we are retaining
is the means by which to look up the information we need, reported
HealthDay's Serena Gordon on UN News and World Report.

Essentially, says the study's authors, the Internet has become a
primary form of external memory for us: a place where information is
stored collectively outside ourselves.

Sounds a bit like science fiction, but it makes sense.

So how will this change the human brain in the long run, now that we
no longer need to remember things like birthdays, phone numbers,
address, sports statistics or how to convert kilos to pounds? Nobody
really knows for sure, but one of the researchers who authored the
study thinks it might have some benefits as well as drawbacks.

“I think [technology] might hurt the type of memorization that we
usually think about, like remembering the name of an actress, but I
think there might be some benefits, too,” said the study's author
Betsy Sparrow, an assistant professor in the department of psychology
at Columbia University in New York City.

“If you take away the mindset of memorization, it might be that people
get more information out of what they are reading, and they might
better remember the concept,” she said.

The results study, which used college student volunteers, were
published in the journal Science this month.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There are a lot of people who feel so lost without their "external
memory" that they are reluctant to go where the internet does not
reach.  Personal computing is another "brain crutch" some of us find
hard to get along without.  Spell and grammar checkers help us write
better, spreadsheets, Matlab and
http://code.google.com/p/eie1/wiki/InferenceAlgorithm help us think
about complicated problems.

I recently modeled the power transfer for a beamed energy propulsion.
The beam profile is Gausian.  Is it better to pump the working fluid
toward the high flux area or away from it?  There is an unambiguous
answer, the difference in energy absorbed is 80% efficient for one
direction to 86% efficient the other at 2700 deg K.

In some ways we are already in a runaway singularity.  Without
previous generations of computers, it would be impossible for humans
to design the next generation of computers.

> Over the years I have repeatedly expressed my utter delight at living
> in and witnessing this juggernaut of science and technology.  Not just
> reading and dreaming about what might be possible, but actually
> watching the wonders of imagination tumble forth into reality.  Each
> time, I thought to myself that the pace would remain more or less the
> same, and that I could handle it, could absorb it.  By which I mean
> superficially, to be sure.  Now things are coming at me so fast I
> can't keep up, not even superficially.

Even though I have been thinking about some of the things that come
tumbling forth for decades, I still feel shock when they happen.

> Anyone else feel similar?  What about you younger folks (I'm
> sixty-two, now.  How the hell did that happen?! I don't feel
> sixty-two)? Do you feel more in synch, more in control?

Sixty-nine here so I can't say how younger people feel.

Keith

> Best, Jeff Davis
>
>  "My guess is that people don't yet realize how
>     "handy" an indefinite lifespan will be."
>                       J Corbally
>
>