From: Philip Goetz (philgoetz@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Mar 16 2006 - 06:54:41 MST
On 3/7/06, Dirk Bruere <dirk.bruere@gmail.com> wrote:
> This is something of a very brief condensation of my writings elsewhere,
> but essentially this Sim is a *dream* or an act of memory retrieval. In our
> own dreams we simulate realities quite convincingly most of the time, and
> people them with entities often quite capable of passing the Turing Test.
> Not bad for a kilo of wetware. Also, our acts of memory are often de facto
> simulations. For example, a question of "what did you do last Thursday" will
> elicit in most people a brief re-run of the events leading up to and into
> Thursday as a method of retrieval. In addition, we often 'fill in' our
> memories with plausible fabrications presumably as a data compression or
> space saving device. Apart from that we have various daydreams and 'what-if'
> scenarios we habitually play out. Indeed, one might argue that the hallmark
> of intelligence is such scenarios.
I really like that explanation! I don't think I've thought of it or
heard it described before. I disagree with your conclusions, though.
> Anyway, if this is what's happening it does suggest that the Being who is
> doing all this has certain likely features. These are:
> a) It uses data compression and/or is running a maximally efficient
> reversible computing algorithm.
??? One would assume that, being smart, it is using data compression.
But nothing you have said suggests that it is, or that it is running
a reversible computer.
> b) It may be using a QC-like structure to simulate what-ifs as
> proliferating branches.
> c) A Jupiter brain has an inevitably fragmented personality given
> lightspeed restrictions.
> d) It's recalling the events leading up to a Human created Singularity, and
> filling in the gaps. We are here because of the historical record.
> e) The Singularity (from our POV) is the end of the process.
I see no implications of these items. The idea that we are a
"simulation" being recreated merely as part of the thought-process of
some entity has no relationship to items a-e.
- Phil
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