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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   37124 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 10, 2023

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Me personally? I'll become a mind upload if technologically feasible, and I see little reason it won't in the long term.

Such an entity has far lower resource footprints compared to an equivalent human in space, considering life support. All you need is a steady supply of spare parts for the computers and energy, which is available in copious amounts via fusion or solar.

So I would end up owning a large patch of land to store my compute, and any robotic industrial equipment I need for self sufficiency or simply for trade with neighbors. That's more doable when you live close to others in tightly packed neighborhoods, which is why I value a large chunk of Mars as much as an entire exoplanet. It'll be livelier if nothing else.

So once I have my share, I'll be living mostly inside simulations, running autonomously on the outside, and doing my own thing till Heat Death. I'd likely end up in a community of like minded people, or just forks of my own consciousness or children.

TLDR: I largely care about the resources and opportunity cost of a plot of land/space. Since it takes an enormous amount of time and energy in a dying universe to travel, I value a smaller sum nearby, in company, over a larger one further away or less populated and convenient.

So once I have my share, I'll be living mostly inside simulations, running autonomously on the outside, and doing my own thing till Heat Death. I'd likely end up in a community of like minded people, or just forks of my own consciousness or children.

So you wouldn't value physical exploration/discovery at all? I'd like to spend at least a few centuries venturing out. Sitting in the same server on Mars for my immortal life sounds dull, although I agree that valuing community over novelty is a good long term plan.

Keep in mind that as a mind upload, I can trivially fork and modify my consciousness, so sending a copy of myself out to explore the universe is no issue.

I can't say that would likely be a major priority for me, given the sheer travel time, and the fact that I can experience most of it in VR, but it's always an option.

Have you read Greg Egan's Diaspora? It explores this in depth.

Also, I feel like I would at least once want to be the actual consciousness exploring. Then again it would be horrifically risky compared to my cushy life on Mars I suppose. It's nice to dream.

No, that's not one of Egan's works that I've read!

Frankly speaking, I feel the sheer hassle of space exploration unless you're colonizing makes it not worth it. It would take decades to explore nearby stars, burn an enormous amount of resources, and for an experience I don't personally value that highly. Maybe send a copy on an already outbound flight, but that's about it as far as I'm really concerned. My curiosity about things is very much real, but I don't need to see it all in person!

If you think it's not worth it to explore, why would your fork do it?

Because I can arbitrarily modify it?

Not that I'd still bother, because I don't really want my forks doing anything I wouldn't do myself unless it couldn't be helped.

I’ve only read that from Egan, do you have other recommendations?

You're asking the wrong person in this case, but I did read half of Permutation City and did enjoy it before I got distracted haha. I'm under the impression that's his most famous work by far, but I haven't dabbled in any others.

If you were an immortal robot, why would you care? Fork of an instance and set it to activate at it's destination, then come back to merge with the hive. (not that I endorse any of this behaviour, but it seems inconsistent with your frame to worry that interstellar exploration would take too long!)

Interstellar travel is still difficult enough that that wouldn't be easy, but sure, I could do that if I really cared to.

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