Nice! The tricky bits will be: - the capture of the thought mechanisms and the knowledge - their playback
Otherwise there is no questioning that the computer power and storage will be there ok, and for cheap, someone calculated a few years back that an average PC was already equivalent to a chimpanzee in those respects. If the tricky bits are solved, this will offer a way to travel for cheap too, just transfer the data forget about the hardware we'll buy it there ;-) IMHO a more realistic prediction based on Moore's law is that we will talk equal to equal with machines in a few decades, and they will consider us as fancy pets (or antique machines?) in a few more decades. Michel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jones Beene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "vortex" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 4:15 PM Subject: OT: the "LifeBox" > There is a marvelous pop-sci book out now by Rudy Rucker, entitled "The > Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul". It explores a scientific basis for > spirituality - devoid of dogma and myth. You might think of it as quirky > at first, but by next week , if you stick with it, you might think of it > as modern-day prophecy. > > http://www.rudyrucker.com/lifebox/index.html > > even if you don't cotton-to the theme of the book, or Rucker's clinical > writing style (regrettable in light of his great ideas), there are some > way-cool software downloads here: > > http://www.rudyrucker.com/lifebox/downloads.htm > > OK. What is this key concept of this book: which the "lifebox" ? > > Well to put is succinctly, the lifebox is (or will become) the "soul" of > future lifeforms on planet earth - in the long-awaited "rational" future > of our disincarnated evolution (away from the flesh), so to speak. > > This is a book that should be required reading in Seminary, as it may > become a future "gospel" for the next generation. The "good news," > however, definitely takes a period of "adjustment" or > attitude-re-engineering, shall we say. I had to put the book down for a > week, after an initial speed-read, just to let the ideas sink-in before a > further study. > > Basically and IMHO, at some point in the evolution of mankind - around the > year 2012 <g> if earth does not self-immolate, we will have affordable > (terabyte, terahertz, son-of-Xbox) computers advanced enough to capture an > individual's total though-process, personality, educational slant, > day-by-day biography, like-and-dislike, quirks, and insight ... a machine > which will grow and mature with every individual from childhood to (going > offline physically) IOW - a soul but different from anything imaginable in > ancient scripture, yet surprisingly comforting - after you live with the > concept for several days. > > I would love to have access to the "lifebox" of not only my father, > departed now for 40 years or grandparents and so on - but also to > non-relatives. Imagine going online and spending time with long departed > great thinkers or personal heroes. > > In the not-too-distant future, this will be an attainable (and probably > universal)kind of immortality - and in keeping with Moore's Law, it will > probably cost less than the average marble tombstone (but like the > neoBeetle, it may have a built-in stem vase.) > > Shalom, > > Jones
