[extropy-chat] sjbrain calcs

[Alan Eliasen]

   I'm earnestly following this discussions of Brains the Size of a
Planet and all that, and going a bit insane in the membrane trying to
keep the alphabetical procession of different XYZbrains in order.  Neat
stuff, though.

   Can I ask what may be a silly question?  Why would one build so many
little far-flung nodes instead of a more monolithic structure?  So many
things are simpler, faster, and more efficient with a single
structure--communications, energy expenditure, time lag, that I guess I
don't see why the structure wouldn't be made much more compact.

   For example, let's be way overgenerous and assume each tiny node had
the computational power of a human brain (probably not possible with
only 50 billion atoms) and that it switched at a rather conservative 1
THz.  (We'll assume a classical architecture; it gets worse for
smarter/faster quantum computers.)  This is approximately a factor of a
billion times faster than the fastest neurons in the human brain can
switch.  We'll oversimplify and say that each node thus "thinks" a
billion times faster than a human brain.

   Now, I've talked to people on the other side of the world on the
phone, and the satellite lags were very noticeable and confusing.  We'd
pause too long, interpret silences as reticence, or feel we had said
something wrong, and then both people would start talking at the same
time, only to interrupt each other a half-second later, and then stop
and start over again.  And that's a fraction of a second delay.

   Communicating with someone with a one-minute lag would probably be
pretty inefficient and painful.

   Now, when you have a node that's a billion times faster, and you're
communicating over even a light-second distance, that's an infinity.  It
might be like a billion seconds to a human.  A billion seconds is over
31 years.  It might seem that long to a node to ask a question and get
an answer.  It's like carrying on a conversation with

Using Frink notation, ( http://futureboy.homeip.net/frinkdocs/ ) *

   1 billion seconds -> years
   31.68876

   When communicating over a light-minute radius, a node would grow old
and bored and completely forget the question.  Or at least I would.
It'd have the responsiveness of an IP-via-carrier-pigeon Internet, which
was actually proposed:

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1149.html

Data:   "And for a time, I was tempted by her offer."
Picard: "How long a time?"
Data:   "0.68 seconds sir. For an android, that is nearly an eternity."

   So, my question is, why intentionally make it so hard and painful to
communicate?  I've always thought that future supercomputers would
cluster as close as possible together so that communications lags would
be minimized.  Or, why not?  Robustness?

>>You can practically do this stuff in your head, Robert.

   Well, you can too, sorta, with Frink.  Frink is a calculating
tool/programming language that I've developed to make all sorts of
real-world calculations easier.  For example, the calculation below:

> You can -- I can't due in large part probably to lack of
> practice -- but that is why I have a handy dandy spreadsheet
> (ssmass.xls) which in the Planets worksheet puts Jupiter
> at 43.27 light minutes out.  (Big :-))

   This, in Frink notation, becomes:

   jupiterdist / c -> minutes
   43.27

   It's the tool for people like me who can't do this stuff in their
heads, so we can keep up with you smarties.

   Actually, the best thing to do is go to the bathroom and calculate
this stuff... then come back and *act* like you're figuring it out in
your head.  It'll do unbelievable wonders for your reputation as a savant.

   "Hmmm... let's see... a volume with a diameter of a light-minute...
let's put that into perspective... how many Jupiter volumes is that?
Ummm... 4/3 pi times, say 44 thousand miles cubed... and a light-minute
is... hmmm... it's about two million Jupiter volumes.  That's a big
brain indeed."

   In actuality, you just went in and wrote:
4/3 pi (1/2 light minute)^3 / (4/3 pi jupiterradius^3)

   Don't laugh.  I've *done* stuff like this.  It's not horribly honest,
but it makes you the object of respect, fear, and sex.

   Frink documentation:
http://futureboy.homeip.net/frinkdocs/

   You'll probably get the best idea of what Frink can do by skipping to
the "Sample Calculations" section:

http://futureboy.homeip.net/frinkdocs/#SampleCalculations

   You can try it online or install it on most operating systems (it's
written in Java,) including handhelds, HDML- or WML-speaking webphones,
wireless Palms, or try a simple web-based interface or applet-based
interface at:

http://futureboy.homeip.net/frink/

   The long-term goal is to make Frink the obvious first choice for the
software you install into the coprocessor in your head.  ;)

-- 
  Alan Eliasen                 | "You cannot reason a person out of a
  eliasen at mindspring.com       |  position he did not reason himself
  http://futureboy.homeip.net/ |  into in the first place."
                               |     --Jonathan Swift