X-Message-Number: 4753
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 11:48:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Hans Moravec and cryonics

The question has been asked, is robotics researcher Hans Moravec serious
about the possibility of reconstructing a human being from "clues" left
behind on an atomic level? 

The answer is "yes." If you accept his assumption that by 2050 there will
be artificial intelligences more powerful than our own, and his second
assumption that they will fairly swiftly evolve the ability to compute on
a SUB-atomic level, you may also feel willing to accept his assumption
that they will want to recreate us out of nostalgia. This incidentally
leads to the conclusion that the world which we regard as real may already
be a recreation; a simulation. In fact, since the simulation may be run
many times (whenever our AI descendants feel like taking another look at
us), the odds are in favor of this being a simulation. 

I recently did a long interview on this and other topics with Hans, which 
will appear in the October issue of Wired. He derives a genuine feeling 
of comfort from his "resurrection by AI" scenario and is genuinely 
apathetic about cryonics. 

##############################################################
Charles Platt / 1133 Broadway, room 1214 / New York / NY 10010
Phone 212 929 3983     email      fax 212 807 6111


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