[ExI] list test

[BillK]

On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 10:27 PM, Ben Zaiboc wrote:
>  "spike" <spike at rainier66.com> observed:
>> I'll be back home tomorrow. ... no internet, no cell phone, nothing.  It was hell.
>
> Now that's an interesting observation.
> For some people, being 'off grid' is an ordeal, for others, it's necessary to recharge their batteries,
> or restore their sanity.  I know, because I'm one of them.
>

And, vice versa, it was hell for everyone else while spike was away.  ;)

>
> I'm wondering what that means for the oft-quoted problem of accelerated intelligences needing
> to be connected at all times, leading to the 'no expansion' scenario.
>
> I'm thinking there are probably personality types that would relish the prospect of a few hundred
> years of peace and quiet between bursts of contact with their parent civilisation.
> Or even being cast adrift from it permanently.  Maybe the answer to the Fermi Paradox is
> that yes, there are interstellar explorers, but they're all hermit types.
>
>

So the galactic explorers are the ones that nobody likes?  :)
The aliens they meet probably won't like them much either.

I think the point of the AI needing to be connected at all times is
really that the idea of 'individuals' will change drastically. It will
be as though you were a sort of distributed intelligence, with parts
of your intelligence / personality off doing their own thing and
reassembling as required. Even ordinary humans change a bit to suit
their company and environment. I'm pretty different when I'm at an
all-night rave with the Oxytocin flowing compared to giving a lecture
about financial derivatives. (Hypothetical examples!).


BillK