Wanted to run an idea by the forums

[CaptainSir]

Hello all. I just got into OA and I read the historical timeline and read a couple articles.

I had the basic premise for an idea, but I'm not sure about its viability. Basically, a cult of sorts starts out on Medina, with the central tennenent being that the Ummah will truly become one by linking the comciousness of the belivers together.

What I had in mind is that he starts out with a small willing participants. Their consciousness are all uploaded into a cloud and redownloaded into each participant. Basically, several different people all thinking as one with several different lifetimes worth of experience.


I won't go into too much detail, but over the course of humdreds of years billions of individuals are added into the collective. The end result is that the Ummah is recognized as an AI that's reached singularity.

What do you all think? I'm on a mobile phone that's running out of charge so I've tried to type this as quickly as possible. Thanks guys

[Drashner1]

Hi There - Welcome to OA!!

Hello all. I just got into OA and I read the historical timeline and read a couple articles.

I had the basic premise for an idea, but I'm not sure about its viability. Basically, a cult of sorts starts out on Medina, with the central tennenent being that the Ummah will truly become one by linking the comciousness of the belivers together.

What I had in mind is that he starts out with a small willing participants. Their consciousness are all uploaded into a cloud and redownloaded into each participant. Basically, several different people all thinking as one with several different lifetimes worth of experience.

I won't go into too much detail, but over the course of humdreds of years billions of individuals are added into the collective. The end result is that the Ummah is recognized as an AI that's reached singularity.

What do you all think? I'm on a mobile phone that's running out of charge so I've tried to type this as quickly as possible. Thanks guys

I think the core idea of a group within the Stellar Umma wanting to share minds is certainly doable. OA has it as a given that there are many many different beliefs within the setting, so something like this is as likely as any other. Similarly, over time the combined group mind could breach one or more Singularity barriers. Although, with only billions of members, the collective could never get beyond the Second Singularity (Sidebar- not sure if you've encountered this yet, but in the OA setting there are multiple Singularities and Singularity Levels going from S0 (human equivalent minds) to S6 (the highest AI Gods)). Second Singularity minds are about 5 billion times as powerful as a human level mind, while Third Singularity minds are about 3e20 (call it 3 followed by 20 zeros) times as powerful as a human mind and need a brain the size of Earth's Moon - more or less - to operate.)

Where I don't think this would work as described is to have it become the Umma, which is currently a human level empire within the setting (although it may have some transapient members). I think we're inclined to keep it that way, by and large.

That said, it would be quite doable to have this group operate as either a civilization within the Umma (or aligned with them or friendly with them or the like) or as an independent polity that started in the Umma and then struck out on its own, ending up in some other location by the OA 'Present Day'.

So, overall workable, with some modifications, IMO.

My thoughts on the matter - and once again - Welcome to OA

Todd

[CaptainSir]

Thanks for the welcome and the information! So I know the technology is viable.

Has there ever been a group of humans to breach S1?

[Rynn]

Has there ever been a group of humans to breach S1?

Undoubtedly. Both group mind and ascension technology are well established in the setting.

[stevebowers]

One example of group mind ascension is the copygroup culture that emerged on Grignard; by 7689 most of these closely-knit group minds had ascended past the first singularity.
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4cfd1ab04285b

[Drashner1]

Group minds are something we make passing mention of in some spots, often treating them as historical entities that have since faded away or ascended to transapience. We also indicate they exist in the OA present day, but so far we haven't really said much about them - most likely because we have a tendency to write more about things we (As baseline humans) feel we understand vs things that run to the more alien or hard to visualize.

It would certainly not hurt, and probably actually help, to have additional, and more detailed, mentions of various types of group mind in the setting, both as historical entities and as current players in the overall Terragen civilization of Y11k.

Todd