Kadath

Discussion in 'Intelligence & Machines' started by Cris, May 7, 2001.

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  1. Cris In search of Immortality Valued Senior Member

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    Reacting to a reference made by tiassa to Kadath I found this fun story.

    So here is an interesting online fiction article that gives an alternate view of uploaded life.
    Here is the link to the full article.

    http://www.1stresource.com/~mistered/kadath.htm

    I’ve included below a couple of quotes from the story.

    Kadath in the Cold Waste
    A Vision of the Future
    Copyright Edward Keyes, December 4, 1995

    "All life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other."

    - H.P. Lovecraft, "The Silver Key"
    The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

    Here is a quote from the chronology leading to Kadath.

    August 19, 2103 -- The Martian colonies are destroyed by a nuclear detonation at the hand of the last surviving member of its Council. Number of minds not transferred to Kadath in time: 3. The total extinction of the human race, and the beginning of the Age of Artificial Life.

    A quote after Gavin has kinda died / uploaded.

    From the unfathomable depths of blackness, a presence appeared. Gavin, lost in a recollection of his last, painful living moments, immediately snapped out of his reverie, thankful for anything, no matter how small, to break the spirit-numbing boredom and sensory deprivation already creeping across the edges of his mind.

    "Who's there?" he demanded of the void.

    "I am subprocess CA39910236, but I think that you would probably prefer a conventional verbal label -- you can call me Calvin."

    "I'm Gavin. I would say it's nice to meet you, but to be honest I'd rather not be here at all, wherever here happens to be, that is."

    "That's understandable. It's my job to change your mind, actually. I'm a sociologist, of a sort, and I'm here to orient you in your new life."

    "New life? I thought I was dead. Just what sort of afterlife is this?"

    "Well, Gavin, yes, you are dead, in a sense, and this is an afterlife, in a sense, but not in the way I think you mean. There's nothing supernatural involved in your present condition, for instance."

    Gavin paused, and took a deep virtual breath. "Okay, once and for all -- who am I, where am I, and what, by the dancing stars, is going on here?"

    "A straight answer, eh? Well, here it comes. You are subprocess AL64239841, a cunning computer emulation of the mental functioning of the being known as Gavin Allander, now deceased. Since you are no longer physical, you do not have a well-defined location. Your program exists somewhere, and probably in many places, inside the computer modules in orbit around Earth. And what's been going on is that you have just been absorbed into a vast collective intelligence containing the rough equivalent of 310 quintillion human minds. Is that straight enough for you?"

    Gavin was speechless for a moment. "I'm ... inside a computer?"

    "Yes. The neural connections in your brain were observed and analyzed by the nanite probe we sent to your spacecraft. From that data, your consciousness was 'resurrected' here in Kadath. You shouldn't be able to detect any differences in mental functioning, except perhaps for a subtle sharpening of memories due to the elimination of organic inefficiencies in information retrieval."

    So now read the whole story. It’s a good read.

    Cris
     
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  3. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    Galvin and the Kadath

    A most interesting read! And thought provoking, no less. Talk about an upload. Some how, even though it is all a mind thing, I agree with the main character that I would much rather have the real life than the images played upon by electronic simulation or stimulation. Even given the benefit of long life, ever how sliced and segmented. The story plays out that earth has been turned into a resource to be harvested and bundled into piles of whatever is needed for the use of all. I do indeed hope that this scenario is not our future.
     
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