I kind of wonder if there might be better ways of retrieval than simulation. There’s a lot of interstellar dust out there, and an expanding sphere of light from the earth for every moment of history is interacting (very weakly) with that dust.
Thus if we were to set up something like a dyson shell at 50AU from the sun designed to maximize computational energy collection and also act as an extremely powerful telescope, I have to wonder if we could collect enough data from interstellar space that could be analyzed to produce an accurate recording of human history. New data would constantly be coming in from further dust about each moment of history.
If a solar system centered version turns out to be too weak, that could be a motive (as if one is needed) for colonizing the galaxy. Perhaps converting each star of the galaxy into a hyper-efficient computer (which would take tens if not hundreds of thousands of years to reach them all) would enable us to effectively analyze dust particles from the intergalactic void. Or perhaps by targeting large stars further out on the spiral arms as power sources for telescopes, we could get a picture with reduced interference.
Could this all be converted into actual history (and thus recreatable minds) without basically instantiating the pain that happened? That’s a bit hazy for me. The physics extrapolations would involve a complex set of heuristics for comparative analysis of diverse data streams, and trying to narrow down the causal chain based on new data as it becomes available. However it wouldn’t exactly be simulation in the sense we’re used to thinking of it.
Obviously when resurrecting the minds, you would want to avoid creating traumatized and anti-social individuals. There would probably be an empirically validated approach to making humans come back “whole” and capable of integrating into the galactic culture while retaining their memories and experiences to sufficient degree that they are indisputably the same person.
Recreating accurate historical minds entails recreating accurate history, complete with traumatized and anti-social individuals. We should be able to ‘repair’ and integrate them into future posthuman galactic culture after they are no longer constrained to historical accuracy (ie, after death), but not so much before. There may be some leeway, but each person’s history is entwined with the global history. You can’t really change too much without changing everything and thus getting largely different people.
I kind of wonder if there might be better ways of retrieval than simulation. There’s a lot of interstellar dust out there, and an expanding sphere of light from the earth for every moment of history is interacting (very weakly) with that dust.
Thus if we were to set up something like a dyson shell at 50AU from the sun designed to maximize computational energy collection and also act as an extremely powerful telescope, I have to wonder if we could collect enough data from interstellar space that could be analyzed to produce an accurate recording of human history. New data would constantly be coming in from further dust about each moment of history.
If a solar system centered version turns out to be too weak, that could be a motive (as if one is needed) for colonizing the galaxy. Perhaps converting each star of the galaxy into a hyper-efficient computer (which would take tens if not hundreds of thousands of years to reach them all) would enable us to effectively analyze dust particles from the intergalactic void. Or perhaps by targeting large stars further out on the spiral arms as power sources for telescopes, we could get a picture with reduced interference.
Could this all be converted into actual history (and thus recreatable minds) without basically instantiating the pain that happened? That’s a bit hazy for me. The physics extrapolations would involve a complex set of heuristics for comparative analysis of diverse data streams, and trying to narrow down the causal chain based on new data as it becomes available. However it wouldn’t exactly be simulation in the sense we’re used to thinking of it.
Obviously when resurrecting the minds, you would want to avoid creating traumatized and anti-social individuals. There would probably be an empirically validated approach to making humans come back “whole” and capable of integrating into the galactic culture while retaining their memories and experiences to sufficient degree that they are indisputably the same person.
Recreating accurate historical minds entails recreating accurate history, complete with traumatized and anti-social individuals. We should be able to ‘repair’ and integrate them into future posthuman galactic culture after they are no longer constrained to historical accuracy (ie, after death), but not so much before. There may be some leeway, but each person’s history is entwined with the global history. You can’t really change too much without changing everything and thus getting largely different people.