🚀 go-pugleaf

Robin Hanson <hanson@PTOLEMY.ARC.NASA.GOV> writes:
>Hal Finney writes:
>>But gravity would seem lower, by a factor of 16 ...
>>Living in a 1/16 g field may not be normal enough for some people.
>>They could slow their minds down by another factor of 16.  (They would
>>still be 16 times faster than normal people.)  Things would then fall
>>at a normal rate.  But inertia would now be screwed up.
>>What they need to do is to also weaken
>>themselves by a factor of 16 - make their muscles 16 times less
>>strong.  Now, inertia is right, gravity is right, and they can lift
>>just the right amount.
>
>But now all the materials around them are way stronger, so they'd
>weaken them too, etc.  

All this seems to relate fine to nonorganic bodies, but what about an
uploaded mind in an organic body?  You'd have to alter some parts of the
brain, namely those parts controlling bodily functions.  Obviously if
your brain was running proportionally faster than your body, you'd
want your heart & breathing to remain normal.

I'm concerned as to how organic muscle would react to the greatly speeded-
up signals from an uploaded brain.  If your brain is running, e.g., 100
times faster than your body, would your muscles be able to differentiate
signals it receives at 100 times its usual rate?  What about muscle burnout
from being used at such a fast speed?

I think it would be better to go with an entirely non-organic (i.e. non-
biological) body.  These would be simpler, more flexible, and assumedly
more durable & longer lasting.  You can do so much more with a non-bio-
logical (I hesitate to use the word "robotic") body, and wouldn't be limited
by environmental factors such as in space or the ocean bottom.

Perhaps in a utility fog, one could even have polymorph abilities, a la
the D&D or nethack games.

>I doubt most folks would want this much
>realism, living on the moon might be fine - but having real bodies
>might be a must for many folks.

My view of it is this:  Why limit oneself to just one existence, be it only
in the "real" world or only in cyberspace?  Best to have the best of both
worlds.
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