X-Message-Number: 11721 From: Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 12:30:00 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Wheels exist. Reinvention not necessary. In Message #11710 Thomas Donaldson wrote to Robert Crevier: > >One quite critical issue which your little story slides over is that of >just how well we will ever be able to simulate a world. I am doubting that >our simulations will do very well; sure, I believe in using them for >various kinds of training, etc --- but the idea of living in a simulation, >given the weakness of such simulations compared to the real world, seems >quite ridiculous. > Your attention, please. We ALREADY simulate worlds which are indistinguishable from this one. The usually poorer simulations are commonly called "dreams". Most people assume this is as good as it gets and dismiss dreams as "not real enough". The indistinguishable versions are called "lucid dreams". These CANNOT be distinguished from the experience you are having as you read these words. In fact, to recognize that one is dreaming is often quite difficult as the experience is indistinguishable from the waking state in quality, complexity and content. There is no need to reinvent the wheel nor debate whether or not wheels will ever be buildable. The ONLY question is will THIS wheel be better ACCESSED FOR USE ON DEMAND in the future. Again, the lucid dream is not speculation but demonstrated fact. If you wish to review the literature, no problem. If you wish to directly upgrade your experience of dreaming to personally verify these facts, the door is always open. We already have the wheel. Now we simply need to get better axles. If you prefer, we could call it BVR for Biological Virtual Reality to distinguish it from computer-generated versions. The fact remains BVR already exists. This is not debatable. Am I being clear? -George Smith CI member Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=11721