Probability of THS scenario - in light of the last 10 years

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Regarding shared memories and the like: Those bits of text say that infomorphs can acquire those advantages. They don't say that all infomorphs can acquire them. Which can and which can't isn't specified there, and hence ends up being left to GM judgement.

Actually, they very specifically say that Racial Memory is only for AIs, while other stuff is for Infomorphs. It's not like writing 'Infomorph' instead of 'AI' saves space, so it seems like a pretty deliberate distinction. Can't know for sure without Mind Reading the author, of course.

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

(Personally, I'd rule that many AIs have at least the option of gaining these advantages, possibly after some digital modifications to their data storage architectures. Ghosts, which are basically black-box digital models of chaotic undocumented systems which often combine storage and processing, are out of luck until TL11 or 12.)

That . . . doesn't sound like something matching the description of being editable. Not meaningfully, anyway.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

So why isn't xoxing legal in other legal systems? Dictatorships, technocracies, meritocracies, cybercracies? (Also, people seem to have no problem with the issue of Shadows, simply by declaring that a Shadow does not spawn a new instance of voting rights. Even though shadows are sapient.)

Well, in a dictatorship, "legal" is a meaningless expression. There is no fixed code of law; there is only what the dictator orders, which can be completely arbitrary. But, in practice, a sensible dictator is not going to be supportive of a technology that would allow his rivals to raise armies against him by copying themselves. You have to remember that dictatorships are commonly founded by forcible seizure of power, which means that there is a way of "voting" the dictator out of office—and numbers count for that too.

The American individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker used to refer to "bullets and their paper substitutes, ballots," and he had a point: Voting can be just a way of sizing up which faction is likelier to win and declaring them the victor without the bother of an actual war.

Bill Stoddard

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by whswhs

But, in practice, a sensible dictator is not going to be supportive of a technology that would allow his rivals to raise armies against him by copying themselves.

But they also really need to copy people. I bet Kim Jun-un would love to make a couple of million copies of nuclear and rocket scientists.

You're going to end up with very poor dictatorships where it doesn't matter what they do, because they'll still be facing off against superpowers no matter what they do. So, they're looking at the question: why not just do what I want?

[antares]

Guys. Arent these discussions not a bit off-topic?
Would it be possible to split this thread into two? One on the original topic and one on xoxes, shadows, and so on?
this is getting a bit confusing.