:) yep. It is both up and down. I am disappointed at how long it is taking to get to where I want to be and scared at how I could lose the chance of getting there at all, but still deriving pleasure from the journey.
"There" is, of course, immortality. Many of us want it. Some choose to do wonderful things to live on in other's memories; some choose the path of power to make their mark upon history; some create breathtaking artworks; some have children; some poor souls place their faith in an imagined god. But for the first time in history we are closing in on actual immortality. I am not talking about biological repair. Computer technology is advancing fast enough that in another few decades we can expect to be able to model our minds inside computers. Those computers won't be much like current computers. They will be massively parallel, clockless, and run on little energy. They'll probably be hybrid in structure, possibly using quantum computing for much of their work. Once scanned into such a computer the biological person can die but their thought patterns, memories, desires, and creativity live on... if not forever, at least for some centuries... perhaps for millenia, inside infinite virtual universes.
But it is all happening a little slower than I hoped, and the war trumpets are not helping at all. The story I am writing is having birthing problems, and money is spreading less and less far.
So... you see? Up and down. :)
(By the way, "Doppelgangland" and "Superstar" are getting posted today.)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2003-03-10 04:17 pm (UTC)"There" is, of course, immortality. Many of us want it. Some choose to do wonderful things to live on in other's memories; some choose the path of power to make their mark upon history; some create breathtaking artworks; some have children; some poor souls place their faith in an imagined god. But for the first time in history we are closing in on actual immortality. I am not talking about biological repair. Computer technology is advancing fast enough that in another few decades we can expect to be able to model our minds inside computers. Those computers won't be much like current computers. They will be massively parallel, clockless, and run on little energy. They'll probably be hybrid in structure, possibly using quantum computing for much of their work. Once scanned into such a computer the biological person can die but their thought patterns, memories, desires, and creativity live on... if not forever, at least for some centuries... perhaps for millenia, inside infinite virtual universes.
But it is all happening a little slower than I hoped, and the war trumpets are not helping at all. The story I am writing is having birthing problems, and money is spreading less and less far.
So... you see? Up and down. :)
(By the way, "Doppelgangland" and "Superstar" are getting posted today.)