I was recently reminded of the illusory effect of online games when reading about why SWGEmu is possible. We get this rich experience in an online game, but under the covers only a minimal amount of messaging is going on. That image of your friends avatar you see is not really constantly being transmitted from your friends computer, through the game server and on to you. A simple message is being sent about their location and possibly what they are doing and your computer is filling in the rest based on that with local resources. Stretch your imagination and put yourself inside the computer. Pretend you are the one relaying those simple messages and receiving information back about what's happening around you. Does the concept of going somewhere lose all meaning? Does everything turn into detached messages, or is real experience emulated?
Let's consider how a consciousness that was not embodied would communicate or travel. Whether it's your mind in a computer, or some created artificial intelligence, how would they experience things? Even us embodied humans experience the real world through the bandwidth of our own senses. We are constantly taking in messages from the world in the form of reflected light or sounds, using what information we can, and filling in blanks with memories in our brain. Our memory contains a lot of local resources similar to a game, but instead of them being installed upfront, our local resources are our own memory of things built up over time.
We can think of the entities communication over networks as senses that operate over distances only limited by the reach of the network. Games minimize bandwidth by using simple codes that the client and server understand. What kind of new digital language might be birthed to facilitate interaction between digital entities? Just as with our own speech, that language would need to be dynamic in a way that allows for varying levels of detail to be conveyed, unlike the rigid digital communications games use. This really underscores the importance of the simple ability to remember something to the whole concept of intelligence. The ease with which we can share thoughts and collaborate is directly related to the richness of our memory.
I have sometimes read that people believe it necessary for a mind to have a body to achieve the level of consciousness of humans. Given a rich enough digital environment, and considering the role memory plays and the limited amount of focused input we actually experience presently, that seems unlikely. Actually being able to create that mind or move it to an un-biological shell is a completely different topic that precludes this, so I guess it doesn't matter much. But if it was possible, I would then wonder if it would be possible for that entity to convey to us what it's like to experience a world with digital senses.
Let's consider how a consciousness that was not embodied would communicate or travel. Whether it's your mind in a computer, or some created artificial intelligence, how would they experience things? Even us embodied humans experience the real world through the bandwidth of our own senses. We are constantly taking in messages from the world in the form of reflected light or sounds, using what information we can, and filling in blanks with memories in our brain. Our memory contains a lot of local resources similar to a game, but instead of them being installed upfront, our local resources are our own memory of things built up over time.
We can think of the entities communication over networks as senses that operate over distances only limited by the reach of the network. Games minimize bandwidth by using simple codes that the client and server understand. What kind of new digital language might be birthed to facilitate interaction between digital entities? Just as with our own speech, that language would need to be dynamic in a way that allows for varying levels of detail to be conveyed, unlike the rigid digital communications games use. This really underscores the importance of the simple ability to remember something to the whole concept of intelligence. The ease with which we can share thoughts and collaborate is directly related to the richness of our memory.
I have sometimes read that people believe it necessary for a mind to have a body to achieve the level of consciousness of humans. Given a rich enough digital environment, and considering the role memory plays and the limited amount of focused input we actually experience presently, that seems unlikely. Actually being able to create that mind or move it to an un-biological shell is a completely different topic that precludes this, so I guess it doesn't matter much. But if it was possible, I would then wonder if it would be possible for that entity to convey to us what it's like to experience a world with digital senses.
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