[ExI] SF - cyberspace and utopian narratives for meatless bodies

[Eugen Leitl]

On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 02:55:16PM +0000, BillK wrote:

> Your example works fine when low-level processors work on bits of a problem.
> 
> But Keith was talking about whole civilisations.

Ecosystems. Doesn't change a damn thing.

> Long communication delays mean that they will no longer be one unified
> civilisation. They will diverge into separate civilisations. These

You make it sound like it was a bad thing! Diversity is what
stabilizes ecosystems.

> future 'million-times speed up' intelligences will probably be more
> like hive-minds than the groups of individuals that we have today.  As

Bzzt. There's no reason to assume the current hierarchical
organization (from molecules to eusocial animals) will be ever superceded.

> such, the communication delays would stop the mind growing above a
> certain size, because it would take too long to reach a decision.  The

Bzzt. Reflex processing is local, and doesn't need higher-order
processing.

> mind itself will decide what the optimum size would be for calculating
> efficiency and if it wants to expand then it would build another mind

Nobody calculates jack. The system self-optimizes.

> next door. Though I don't see why it would want to create a competitor
> for resources. Unless resources are really plentiful, of course.

Why do animals have offspring?