Uploading, like all other religions, is a memmetic parasite. As such, it can disected like all other memes.
The standard anatomy of a memetic parasite. 1. A genetic code. With christianity it is the bible, with uploading it is a highly standardized narrative about how you go to sleep on an operating table, your brain is sliced and scanned, and then you magically wake up inVR. 2. A set of behaviors that re-enforce the belief in the meme and promote its spread. With christianity we see churches and men in robes, with uploading we see a massive emphasis on brain preservation and the continual proselatizing we see on all transhumanist boards. 3. A defense mechanism. With religion we see, when the religion can get away with it, a broad array of sanctions against heretics, including the belief of punishment for non-belief. With uploading, and this is my most recent discovery, there is a truly ingenious self-defense mechanism that I'm only just now beginning to come to understand. Now the ideal victim of this memetic parasite is someone who thinks of himself as being highly logical, has a background in computing, and has adopted a specific ontological framework. Even though Godel showed that there is no such thing as a perfect ontology, uploaders behave as if the world obeys their ontological framework instead of the truth which is that their ontological framework merely has a sufficient correlation to real-world phenomena to be useful for a finite set of problems. The world, of course, does not give a flying fuck about what you think is scientifically or logically correct. The victim of the parasite must not have enough meta-scientific sense to realize that there are subjects which science simply cannot make a meaningful statement about. Specifically I am referring to subjective experience. You may say that an upload will behave LIKE the origional, that is a reasonable scientific statement. You, however, cannot say that the upload IS the original because that is a statement of philosophical metaphysics and cannot be addressed with a scientific mindset. The course of the infection can be traced like any other disease. The stage 1 of infection can be called "hooked". The prognosis for treatment in this phase is still pretty good. The fledgling uploader has found some aspect of uploading that seems positive and may consider himself to be an uploader but is still open to introspection and new ideas. Thankfully, because uploading has not had as much time to evolve as other religions, the memeplex has not yet been pre-digested down to a litany that can infect even low-iq hosts. A stage 2 uploader is one that has come to believe that backup copies are a potential form of immortality. -- this is absurd but people actually believe this. This is a critical phase for an uploader because it is probably the last stage at which intervention is still possible. This phase will probably last for less than a week in most patients. A third phase uploader has come to the realization that his highest priority should be to pollute clean virgin floppy disks with copies of his mind -- for the sake of backups.... Uploading becomes terminal at the instant the uploader first thinks to himself "Well that form of transhumanism sounds interesting-ish, I'll give it more thought after I have safely backed up my mind...." Patients who reach this stage are irredeemable. =( It is actually quite shocking to consider how perfectly the uploading memetic parasite protects its victims from new ideas! It provides the perfect excuse not to think about any aspect of transhumanism that doesn't involve uploading! Unfortunately, there is an omega phase of uploading. It happens when the backup ethic gets crossed with the "heroic ethic" which basically states that a person should attempt to, heroically, save the life of those in peril. Because anyone who does not have a backup copy is, by definition, in peril, it then becomes imperative to save them (to floppy). This is where uploaders become a threat to everything that walks, swims, or crawls. =((( While the uploaders could certainly use what I have written here to make their meme-plex more dangerous, I hope this can be used by non-uploaders and early-stage uploaders to help control the growth of this parasite and make it possible to discuss a broad and diverse spectrum of transhumanist ideas without pre-imposing an inevitable teleology. Friends don't let friends become uploaders! -- IQ is a measure of how stupid you feel. Powers are not rights. ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
