X-Message-Number: 11123
From: 
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 20:27:46 -0500
Subject: re: #11065: More on souls, self, and duplication 

The short story in message #11065 was most intriguing!

Many years ago,  I read a novel  called the "Silicon Man" by 
Charles Platt which touched on these same issues. As I recall, the
story revolved around a team of engineers who had perfected uploading.
However, once uploaded these engineers found that they could create
synthetic worlds to inhabit. The operation of their simulated bodies
in this simulated world was so realistic that they could interact with it in
a manner indistiguishable from the interaction of their own physical body
within our physical world. Through advanced technology, perhaps future
engineers could capture the details of interesting earthly places and
recreate them electronically. Thus there is the prospect of
inhabiting purely synthetic worlds. 

Beyond this, we could beam our "souls" (i.e. our identity software) at 
the speed of light to other planets where they would then take up 
residence in artificial bodies. 
Perhaps some day we might set out on an expedition to climb olympus 
mons without having to worry about air pressure, the lack of oxygen or
extreme cold because artificial bodies employing diamondoid 
nanotechnology are more rugged then the organic variety.

/gary

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