[ExI] ETs/Aliens

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 28/08/2024 22:05, spike wrote:
> suppose we had a sim which could run a our speed, at one human
> equivalent.  Would 5 billion years of that make sense?  Well, we like to
>   think so.  But... perhaps not.  Perhaps 50 million years of one human
> equivalent would be sufficient, and if so, an MBrain, with its latency
> limits would make perfect sense.

Sufficient for what, spike?

We can't assume that aliens would have the same psychology as humans 
("The thing about aliens is, they're alien"), and we can't assume that 
uploaded humans would remain the same, mentally, as biological humans. 
In fact I think it would be extremely surprising if they did. So what 
might be 'sufficient' for a biological human (or alien) almost certainly 
wouldn't remain the same for an upload.

To me, at least, the whole point of uploading is to break free of the 
constraints of biological life, both physical and mental. For an upload 
that managed to maintain the same psychology as it's original biological 
form, I wouldn't be surprised if a few thousand years would be 
'sufficient', and a few million might be unbearable. But I think it's 
extremely unlikely that an upload would remain the same, mentally.

I don't think we can really even guess what 'sufficient' would mean to 
an upload, alien or human, in terms of subjective lifespan.

Ben
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