06-13-2023, 07:00 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-13-2023, 07:04 AM by stevebowers.)
I should mention that a very early version of Hanson's concept of the 'em' inspired me to write an article about the planet 'Twinkle', which has a fairly isolated society which uses a system of robotic slaves known as 'valets' or 'batmen' which were derived from illicit copies of their own mentalities.
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4afaa8e94874a
This is a particularly pessimistic version of the evolution of a culture which makes extensive use of slaved virtual copies, and it is not particularly difficult to imagine a different culture where emulations are not only utilised humanely, but actually thrive and contribute to society, sometimes while still remaining subordinated to embodied humans.
Indeed there are so many possible variations on this concept we could base a wide range of different cultures on it. Perhaps each embodied sophont creates a personal team of 'scions' https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480fe08113f50 which can participate in whatever activities they all agree upon; this would make each individual a co-operative group of individuals, perhaps guided by mutual democratic decision-making.
Or perhaps each sophont might create a small population of scions and distribute them amongst each of their friends, so that they could interact socially with them at any or all times, even if they are physically far apart, and cooperate with them on multiple projects simultaneously. Ideally these 'scions' could at some future time be re-absorbed into the prime individual's mentality, or stored in an active state inside their exoself.
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4afaa8e94874a
This is a particularly pessimistic version of the evolution of a culture which makes extensive use of slaved virtual copies, and it is not particularly difficult to imagine a different culture where emulations are not only utilised humanely, but actually thrive and contribute to society, sometimes while still remaining subordinated to embodied humans.
Indeed there are so many possible variations on this concept we could base a wide range of different cultures on it. Perhaps each embodied sophont creates a personal team of 'scions' https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/480fe08113f50 which can participate in whatever activities they all agree upon; this would make each individual a co-operative group of individuals, perhaps guided by mutual democratic decision-making.
Or perhaps each sophont might create a small population of scions and distribute them amongst each of their friends, so that they could interact socially with them at any or all times, even if they are physically far apart, and cooperate with them on multiple projects simultaneously. Ideally these 'scions' could at some future time be re-absorbed into the prime individual's mentality, or stored in an active state inside their exoself.