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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   36339 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 10, 2023

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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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