[ExI] far future

[William Flynn Wallace]

I am a psychologist and want to avoid all topics that are just beyond me
because of my education and my age (72). I once tried to read a book on
quantum theory and got halfway through before it just blew my mind wide
open.  Maybe 50 years ago or even 40, but not now.  That Aronson paper:
well, just don't send me any of that again.

I am just going to concentrate on the mental factors and keep tech stuff to
a minimum- just don't have the background for it.

What is your doctorate in?   bill


On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 2:53 PM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:

>  On 2014-01-08 19:27, Stephen Van Sickle wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 4:59 AM, Anders Sandberg <anders at aleph.se> wrote:
>
>  If they can bring the narrator to the future, can't they check their own
>> future, adjusting things until it looks good?
>
>
>  The Pangloss Theory of Time Travel:  Time travelers iteratively
> intervene in the past, until they reach some sort of maximum or equilibrium
> where no further improvements are possible.  Therefore, the world we
> experience now is literally the best of all possible worlds.
>
>  Isn't that a depressing thought?
>
>
> Whether it is depressing depends on the kind of time travel. The classic
> "vehicle" kind where you can go anywhen would produce an equilibrium with
> either no time travel discovered/allowed to be discovered ( Obcartoon:
> https://www.explosm.net/comics/3420/ - check out the archives too!) or
> optimization. Which might of course be for an optimum you do not like!
>
> If the time travel is a closed timelike loop then it can only affect stuff
> in the future lightcone of the earliest point on the loop. That means that
> even is utopia ensues, if you are earlier than the point you will have a
> normal existence.
>
> If you have time travel, you have vast computing power to get things
> right. Even classical computation with a CTC is equivalent to quantum:
> http://www.scottaaronson.com/papers/ctc.pdf
>
>
> --
> Dr Anders Sandberg
> Future of Humanity Institute
> Oxford Martin School
> Oxford University
>
>
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>
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