type lookuperror

[Marko Rauhamaa]

Steve D'Aprano <steve+python at pearwood.info>:
> And when all the hardware is migrated to "the cloud" (stupid marketing
> speak for "a bunch of computers that you don't control connected to
> the internet"), what exactly will "the cloud" be running on? Moonbeams
> and kitten purrs?

Your soul would no longer run on dedicated wetware. Instead, it would be
a virtual machine on a server farm.

> Personally I think it would be hilarious to see what happens when the
> wireless connection to "the cloud" go down, and people's
> intellectually capacity drop so low that they *literally cannot
> notice* that they're missing anything. Denial Of Service attacks will
> be *hilarious*.

No doubt about that. On the other hand, the same argument is used by
American Libertarian fundamentalists who choose to live in the desert
with narrow dirt roads leading up to their fenced properties. They have
hoarded enough provisions and ammo to sustain a prolonged siege.

When your brain tissue has given in and everybody else is having
immortal, transcendental fun in the virtual world, your priorities might
shift.

> Of course, for this scenario to be plausible will require a much more
> advanced understanding of human thought processes, one sufficiently
> advanced that these cloud "brain providers" would be more than capable
> of invisibly controlling your thoughts.

My point is exactly the opposite. I believe we will reach that stage
without having an exact clue of how consciousness functions. For
example, we probably won't have a way to decode your dreams.


Marko