[ExI] The Elysium effect: The coming backlash to the billionaire 'NewSpace' revolution

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 28/10/2020 18:02, John Grigg wrote:
>
> We need to get our best minds out there, to observe and help us 
> understand what is happening down here, but also to develop new 
> technologies and ways to save the planet 
> <https://www.livescience.com/4091-10-ways-improve-earth-health.html>, 
> create new products such as medicines and to begin utilizing the 
> resources of space to take the pressure off our home world. 
> Governments have shown they are unable to make it efficient, and they 
> certainly can't take it to scale.
>
> Look, if you're reading this, you probably already "get it" when it 
> comes to the importance of opening what Dr. G.K. O'Neill called "The 
> High Frontier 
> <https://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?tsid=74387&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHigh-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Apogee%2Fdp%2F189652267X%3Ftag%3Dhawk-future-20%26ascsubtag%3Dlivescience-us-4858645465568343000-20>" 
> (the seminal book on space settlement that converted Bezos and became 
> one of his early products). There isn't much time for the space 
> community to act, and as members of a society of nerds for whom it is 
> as patently obvious that we must open space as that there will be 
> another "Star Trek 
> <https://www.space.com/31802-star-trek-space-tech.html>" spinoff, we 
> need to get much better at engaging the rest of the world in this new 
> conversation about space.
>
> It really is critical that these space revolutionaries not only be 
> allowed to, but are supported in their quests. The best thing we can 
> do is to understand and speak to the concerns of those who don't yet 
> understand why this is happening and what the true drivers are behind 
> it all."
>

I think exactly the same could be said about uploading research, and 
imo, that is much more likely, relevant and useful.

I used to be a big fan of space colonisation ('monkeys in space' 
version), but ever since learning about uploading, have changed my mind. 
I can't see putting biological humans into space as a solution to 
anything, it's far too difficult, expensive, and could only ever be 
applied to a tiny fraction of the human race. Uploading, on the other 
hand, has the potential to be far cheaper, attainable for everyone who 
wants it, and much, much more useful.

And, once uploading is cracked, space colonisation would be trivially 
easy. Our ecological footprint could be far smaller, if it was taken up 
en masse, and it would open up possibilities that stagger the imagination.

To me, now, the traditional notion of space colonisation looks quaint 
and, frankly, misguided.

"Governments have shown they are unable to make it efficient, and they 
certainly can't take it to scale.". True. Nobody can, not when "to 
scale" refers to billions of people. Putting a 100kg package into orbit 
will always take the same minimum amount of energy. Uploading a person's 
mind, on the other hand, is subject to all kinds of technological and 
economic 'accelerating returns' principles. Actually transmitting an 
uploaded mind off the planet, well, that would take a few watts.

Yes, the infrastructure would have to be in place for that to make any 
sense.

We already routinely launch satellites and robotic probes all over the 
solar system. The only extra factor would be some computing substrate to 
run minds in, and a receiver that could reliably catch the transmitted 
minds. Suddenly, your dumb robotic probes would be alive, intelligent, 
communities of people. Migrating the tribes of humanity into space would 
be a matter of expending a few gigawatts of radio energy. You wouldn't 
even have to wreck the environment for those who choose to stay behind.

I'm not saying it would be easy, just that it would be easier, cheaper, 
more practical and more realistic than 'monkeys in space'. As well as 
being something that can be worked on by small outfits. Not something 
that can be said of biological space colonisation.

Re. 'saving the planet', I think George Carlin said it best. It's not 
the planet that needs saving. The planet's fine.

This is one nerd to whom it's patently obvious that we need to develop 
uploading technology as soon as we possibly can. You can watch too much 
"Star Trek". It should remain firmly in the realm of entertainment, I 
reckon, while we get on with developing uploading (after which, you can 
indulge in as much Star Trek as you want! All the cool things (even the 
impossible ones) in Star Trek (and much more besides) would be easy for 
uploads).

-- 
Ben Zaiboc

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