Robot with a Rat Brain

[qwe]

lots of people died from bacteria too. now we have antibiotics

 

[Scire]

I was actually supporting you. No-one died in car crashes but cars are useful enough that everyone knows how dangerous they are but are willing to take the risk for benefits.

Technology is an investment, of a sort. Say you have a car, and that empowers you, but now you have to maintain the car, you can only operate it when you are fit to drive, you have to pay insurance, etc, etc It's freedom but has responsibilities of it's own.

 

[L2R]

it's possible that this could happen. but this sort of technology could alleviate even more suffering and improve the quality of life drastically for all human beings, ending more pain than it creates. plus, this is true of any technology, do you want to go back to the stone age?

it's relative to the level of progress. as curious as i am of the capacities of technology, my brain is where i draw the line. my consciousness and sanity is far more valuable than my curiosity.

i fear the dark possibilities of this kind of tech far more than death.

 

[Scire]

my brain is where i draw the line. my consciousness and sanity is far more valuable than my curiosity.

You don't take drugs then?

 

[L2R]

very seldomly, but even still, a drug passes in relatively very little time, and they're tried and tested. the terrible possibilities of electronic influence far outweigh those of chemical influence.

 

[Scire]

very seldomly, but even still, a drug passes in relatively very little time, and they're tried and tested. the terrible possibilities of electronic influence far outweigh those of chemical influence.

It's all about context. I made a post previously about a paralysed man who had an implant in his brain, and he could use it to move a cursor. Now, I'd say that would be far less terrible than, say, taking datura.

I think both have the potential to be benign and terrible, some chemicals will kill you and so will an electric shock. But carefully designed and implemented chemicals can provide significant benefit, and I think the same will be true of the electrical.

 

[qwe]

very seldomly, but even still, a drug passes in relatively very little time, and they're tried and tested. the terrible possibilities of electronic influence far outweigh those of chemical influence.

at one point they WERENT tried and tested. and at one point, brain interfaces WILL have been tried and tested. you would have been lamenting the terrible possibilities of new drugs and technologies that would change culture for the better overall, just because they can be misused

society is far from perfect. in fact, we're barbaric. we can always look back and see how weve progressed and call ourselves civilized; but 100 years from now, it'll be the same; we'll look back and this period will look uncivilized

so how do we change society? there's only one fundamental way for sociological systems to evolve, and that's to change the technology. the technology provides the foundation for ALL of civilization; the differences between a seaport city and an agricultural city, between rome and new york; all the bloody progress through history occured because our minds recieved NEW information and change, and in order to get new paradigms, our internal world needs to change. if we were at the same tech level forever, the world would be static, and we would have no hope of solving problems related to "human nature"

 

[lyrrad85z]

Nah, without going too much into the details quantum computers work on probabilities. A qubit (quantum bit) is in a superposition of 0 and 1 (it's 0 and 1 at the same time) which, for reasons I don't fully understand, means that it can calculate both at once. A regular bit can only calculate the 0 or 1 in a single cycle, but the quantum computer calculates all possible calculations in a single cycle.

Probably doesn't sound that amazing but with each additional qubit the number of possible combination doubles; their power increases exponentially. So let n be the number of qubits and the number of calculations it can perform in a single cycle is 2^n. Put another way, a quantum computer with 300 qubits could perform more calculations in a single processing cycle than there are atoms in the universe.

i get it. thats really the best explaination i've ever read. it seems like the simplest of calculations could get out of hand and that the bulk of a Quamputer would be to hamper it's insane processing ability...

 

[moonyham]

Im telling you now, in the not so distance future, within a decade or maybe a little longer, brains from animals will be used as commercially available computing units.

 

[L2R]

at one point they WERENT tried and tested.

Yeah, i wouldn't have indulged back then.

and at one point, brain interfaces WILL have been tried and tested.

still, unlike an illegal drug, an electronic brain interface doesn't flush through the system in a short period of time, also it stays connected with elements outside of one's control.

you would have been lamenting the terrible possibilities of new drugs and technologies that would change culture for the better overall, just because they can be misused

Yes. I'm not going to oppose the development of such tech, nor am i going to stop anyone else from using it or judge them for it. i just don't want it anywhere near me.

so how do we change society? there's only one fundamental way for sociological systems to evolve, and that's to change the technology. the technology provides the foundation for ALL of civilization;

I don't hold the same view. Technology is never going to be sufficient to replace or bandaid the problems associated with being human. For starters it is the most obvious division between the haves and have nots. Secondly, it is only a tool. Tools can be useful in many ways, but they hardly serve to resolve complex ethical and political issues. In some ways technology can distract from more important matters.
I mean, what good is a space shuttle when people starve?