[ExI] People are the same?

[David Lubkin]

I wrote:

 > We can't sit and wait for the nano-fairy
 > to sprinkle us with transhuman goodness. We must, in particular,
 > achieve self-sufficient off-Earth enclaves as soon as possible

Ben Zaiboc wrote:

>Do you think it would be easier/cheaper/quicker to create such 
>off-earth enclaves in the form of habitats capable of supporting 
>biological humans independently and indefinitely, or in the form of 
>substrates capable of supporting uploaded minds, plus the technology 
>to upload minds to them? (I'm thinking of objects roughly the size 
>of cigarette packets, solar-powered, produced in the millions, 
>scattered all over the solar system).
>
>Given the fragility, short lifespan, and sheer unsuitability of 
>biological lifeforms for space, I know which option I'd rather 
>pursue.  Not to mention that in the volume, mass and energy 
>requirements of a single biological human, you could sustain 
>millions (at least) of uploads, for a /lot/ longer.

You're assuming options not in evidence. We don't know that it is
possible to upload minds, even theoretically. And we don't know
how to create the kind of substrate you're talking about.

We are far closer from a technological point of view to creating
off-Earth habitations.

At the end of The West Wing, CJ Craig is offered ten billion dollars
for one important project of her choose. She chooses roads in
Africa. Ten billion dollars would not take us to what you describe.
I think that, wisely spent, it would take us space-based industrialization
and settlement.

I want the technology pursued that could achieve what you describe
but I think it's foolhardy to delay moving to space a day longer than
we have to. There are too many sentience-killing possibilities,
including mistakes along the nano path.


-- David.