Forum Overview :: Motherfucking News :: Re: A disquieting development

[quote name="Ray, of Light"][quote]I must inform you of something: the unravelling of higher brain function is, at this point, a Zeno's paradox. Halfway to halfway, <I>ad infinitum</I>. That doesn't mean it will be forever, but we aren't nearly as close as you'd like to think.[/quote] It's the rest of the body that's being simulated. The brain is original equipment and may remain a delightful mystery. [quote]By "he" I assume you mean "they," or else you may as well tell me that "he" will harness the 1.21 Gigawatts from a lightning bolt that will strike the clock tower to power his army of automatons. In the far future, okay, some company builds the hubots or romen or whatever.[/quote] Maybe an org chart would help here. [quote]Never mind that, let's get back to cost. Will the point ever be reached where it is less expensive to purchase and maintain these androids than it is to purchase and maintain one supercomputer to handle all the heavy math and hire and maintain humans to do all the monkey work? Why aren't we living on the Moon? You know why. Is one supercomputer+1001 human workers really more expensive than 1001 androids that sell at millions <I>per unit</I>, plus maintenance (cheaper than health insurance, which you subtract from the human worker's paid wage anyway?). [/quote] A tank of grey blobs is stretching the definition of andriod, but OK, andriods they are and millions they cost. A stockbroker or accountant costs a lot, too, over 20 years. Or 50. Those costs jump when you tally non-dollar items: clean water, oxygen, pollution and space for him and his shelter. Or, suppose the brainbox costs triple what a human does. Then, suppose crowding boosts the price of space fivefold. That fridge-sized brainbox becomes a bargain. [quote][quote name="Ray, of Light"]maybe it will begin as therapy for quads,[/quote]You totally just switched gears here. Is it a body with an original mortal brain in it, or is it a <I>de novo</I> brain that only simulates a brain grown from the male sperm-fertilized egg of a female? Because the latter is somewhat unquieting, but ridiculously far off, while the former sounds great to me and Christopher Reeve. You should be more worried about all of us getting fitted for new bodies like buying a new car in the future as opposed to androids. [/quote] I figured "super race of heads without bodies" would be universally disquieting. They're people who, willingly or no, have traded away all but their brains, for economic advantage. The backstory is unimportant. Ray! [/quote]