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Would you give up your body to live inside a computer?

Started by JackOfAllTrades Jan 17, 2012 at 10:30 AM 61 replies 11.6k views

Original Post

Jan 17, 2012 at 10:30 AM

I know this is a ridiculous question but I'm curious how many people are as crazy as I am. I relish the idea of living inside a computer primarily because I can escape many things which I greatly fear such as mental deterioration as a result of ageing or death. This would also allow me to escape many burdens of everyday life such as work and school. I could focus all of my effort on my projects and perhaps even improve my own mind in various ways such as improving my memory or eliminating the need for sleep. Though the thought of losing the ability to engage in any type of sexual interaction is unappealing I think those urges could be removed without much hassle.

Anyway, the question I want to ask is how many of you would give up your physical bodies and minds to have a virtual construct of your mind emulated in a computer down to the last neuron. In theory this construct would be you in every sense and would have the same emotions, memories, and thoughts that you have. I know a few of you would be interested in the concept if you could postpone it until you have lived at least a large portion of your life, but as a condition of this question you must be willing to give up your body immediately.

I've added only two questions to the poll because I only want a definite yes or no. 1 vote for yes will be my own so I can view the results. Basically my interest in the results are due to the fact that I feel as if I am an abnormality but to what extent I am unsure. Please do not post inflammatory comments or try to goat me in to an argument as I'm only interested in the poll results.

alnite

Jan 17, 2012 at 10:31 AM

Like Tron?

Nope.

JackOfAllTrades

Jan 17, 2012 at 10:42 AM

Like Tron?

Nope.

alnite

Jan 17, 2012 at 11:58 AM

[quote name='alnite' timestamp='1326796303' post='4903570']
Like Tron?

Nope.

Though I didn't think of it that way initially since I've not seen the movie. I guess that is what it would become since I greatly enjoy video games and the ability to actually make them "real" would be at my finger tips. Plus there is the additional benefit of keeping some of the more pleasant parts of my humanity.
[/quote]

I haven't seen the original either, but I have seen Tron Legacy. You might like the movie, though Tron Legacy tries to touch the moral aspects of such reality if it ever existed.

I don't like about being transferred into a computer because a computer relies on electrical power to keep it running, and that electrical power source is here. How do you keep the power source running if you are inside a computer?

JackOfAllTrades

Jan 17, 2012 at 1:49 PM

[quote name='SteveDeFacto' timestamp='1326796939' post='4903572']
[quote name='alnite' timestamp='1326796303' post='4903570']
Like Tron?

Nope.

samoth

Jan 17, 2012 at 2:15 PM

Let me answer with a quote from one of my favorite movies:
No one cares about the man who disappears (the man in the box) only the one that comes out the other side. Would I be the man in the box or the prestige?

In one word: no.

way2lazy2care

Jan 17, 2012 at 2:26 PM

I think a more interesting question might be whether you'd do it if you knew your useful life was over and the only thing left for you was death. Would you consider it then? I think it would become a much harder decision for me.

JackOfAllTrades

Jan 17, 2012 at 3:29 PM

I think a more interesting question might be whether you'd do it if you knew your useful life was over and the only thing left for you was death. Would you consider it then? I think it would become a much harder decision for me.

I think most anyone with a brain would say yes. If they did not, they most likely believe in some type of after life. Some may even believe that their emotions are apart of their soul and not a physical part of their brain(amygdala). Therefore they may believe that if such an emulation of their mind was created it would be an emotionless husk of them self. This of course is very ridiculous and lacking even the most basic understanding of science or the real world.

szecs

Jan 17, 2012 at 4:40 PM

As long as the real world is not emulated as real and accurate as the Real one, no. As soon as it will be emulated, I'm interested in the Middle Earth mod.
(Emulation of the real world (more precisely a planet) is pretty much impossible for some millennium. And I'm fuckin not interested in some limited Truman Show size world)

_mark_

Jan 17, 2012 at 5:02 PM

I know a few of you would be interested in the concept if you could postpone it until you have lived at least a large portion of your life, but as a condition of this question you must be willing to give up your body immediately.

Then my answer would be no - but certainly I would love to do it as an alternative to dying (or when my body is old and weak).

And it's not a ridiculous question (apart from the fact that it's purely hypothetical to have it now). There is no reason why such a thing couldn't be possible at some point in the future, and some argue this will be possible within our lifetimes.

There is no reason it has to be purely virtual - if such technology is possibly, there is no reason for people's minds to control machines which directly interact with the physical world. Our bodies now are machines - we are machines - it's just a question of if and when we can improve on it.

An open question is whether such a simulation would be sentient, or be the same "me" - not that I think there is any supernatural aspect to sentience, but we don't know whether it is a property of any computation, or if it's caused by some other physical effect.

Luckless

Jan 17, 2012 at 5:39 PM

Given the choice between continuing life as a human for a natural lifespan, vs life in a computer for the better part of eternity from this moment forward? I would choose being a human. Why? Because I know this body works for the most part, and isn't at risk of some tech flipping the wrong switch or tripping over a loose cord.

Now, in 40-50 years when I'm starting to get up there with the average lifespan for a lot of my family? Yeah, sure. Why not? Something new to experience, the next great adventure. Plus, I figured by that time more of the bugs would have been worked out.

way2lazy2care

Jan 17, 2012 at 6:25 PM

I think most anyone with a brain would say yes. If they did not, they most likely believe in some type of after life. Some may even believe that their emotions are apart of their soul and not a physical part of their brain(amygdala). Therefore they may believe that if such an emulation of their mind was created it would be an emotionless husk of them self. This of course is very ridiculous and lacking even the most basic understanding of science or the real world.

You'd think so, but we don't know how long someone who takes reasonably good care of themselves in this day and age will live. Do you think if you lived for 300 years you'd have the same inclination toward survival? What happens when you've explored everything you desire to explore? Would you still want to 'live' forever if all you're doing is living in the most basal sense of the word? This is all putting religion completely aside, because that adds another whole level of craziness.

/philosophy

kseh

Jan 17, 2012 at 7:25 PM

I would hate to have to contend with buggy software and hardware upgrades.

With my personal views on the nature of existence, it would seem that the transformation from one state to the other would be substantial so I would have to answer, no that sort of thing isn't for me. I prefer alterations of my personal being to be gradual.

JackOfAllTrades

Jan 17, 2012 at 7:46 PM

As long as the real world is not emulated as real and accurate as the Real one, no. As soon as it will be emulated, I'm interested in the Middle Earth mod.
(Emulation of the real world (more precisely a planet) is pretty much impossible for some millennium. And I'm fuckin not interested in some limited Truman Show size world)

You've obviously never heard of procedural generation...

Though my site is apparently down at the moment I've written a couple papers my self on the subject of procedural generation.

jwezorek

Jan 17, 2012 at 7:56 PM

I'd do it only if I could live in old Tron universe. Old Tron universe had Wendy Carlos music and 80's graphics. New Tron universe would suck.

Luckless

Jan 17, 2012 at 8:22 PM

Wait, why would we be limited to interactions within a simulated world? Why couldn't we continue to interact with the real world, through other means?

Personally, I would love to be able to crawl around as an Ant-Bot or something, or directly control a research mini-sub dropped into some flooded cave. If all I could do is live in some fantasy dream state, I would much rather pass.

JackOfAllTrades

Jan 17, 2012 at 8:28 PM

Wait, why would we be limited to interactions within a simulated world? Why couldn't we continue to interact with the real world, through other means?

Personally, I would love to be able to crawl around as an Ant-Bot or something, or directly control a research mini-sub dropped into some flooded cave. If all I could do is live in some fantasy dream state, I would much rather pass.

Yes that could also be done and I think it would be quite possible with modern technology to build a body of equal or better function than a human body. The lack of a functioning virtual mind is probably the primary reason such a body has not been built.

way2lazy2care

Jan 17, 2012 at 9:37 PM

Wait, why would we be limited to interactions within a simulated world? Why couldn't we continue to interact with the real world, through other means?

Personally, I would love to be able to crawl around as an Ant-Bot or something, or directly control a research mini-sub dropped into some flooded cave. If all I could do is live in some fantasy dream state, I would much rather pass.

A solar powered/solar sail driven spacecraft would be pretty cool too.

Luckless

Jan 17, 2012 at 9:43 PM

The problem with space flight is that space is kind of dangerous. Mind you the general support requirements of a Brain-in-a-Box would likely be far lower than that of an actual human being. Personally I would hold off on doing the whole "Dive into space" bit for a few centuries. Spend time on earth, and save space for when I get bored.

But live 'life' in a box with no interaction with the real world and just watch pretty pictures go by? No thanks.

way2lazy2care

Jan 17, 2012 at 9:54 PM

The problem with space flight is that space is kind of dangerous. Mind you the general support requirements of a Brain-in-a-Box would likely be far lower than that of an actual human being. Personally I would hold off on doing the whole "Dive into space" bit for a few centuries. Spend time on earth, and save space for when I get bored.

But live 'life' in a box with no interaction with the real world and just watch pretty pictures go by? No thanks.

One could argue that being bound to a planet is more dangerous than being able to travel through space.

@Procedural generation above: One thing that procedural generation does seem to struggle with right now, at least in significant applications, is that it stacks procedural pieces to get a procedural end product. It doesn't do a lot for getting those procedural start points to interact with eachother. The forest is a good example. In real life, trees can grow together, when a tree falls over smaller trees will spring up pretty rapidly in any clearings. Things like this dramatically change the layout, and the forest scene especially looked very off to me because of it.

The city could see similar things through the evolution of neighborhoods. While it looks fine from further away, living in that city might feel unnatural. Every building is apparently run by a financial institution or tech giant. Where are the bad neighborhoods? Where are the different ethnic neighborhoods? Minneapolis/St. Paul is a great example of how neighborhoods differ very sporadically even being less than 10 minutes from each other.

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