Merged Uploads

[Flyndaran]

THS science can perfectly copy a Mona Lisa, but it can't just whip out equal quality works of art as if it were da Vinci.
It also can't merge two of his paintings to make a new equally amazing product.

[Flyndaran]

It's an analogy. Human brains are more complex than paintings.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Shostak

Is this explicitly stated in one of the THS books? It just doesn't make sense to me. Once a mind is uploaded, it is in a digital form that must be wholly understood by the software engineers who built the technology. Merging two files would likely be a lot of work (and might create unstable personalities), but it seems unlikely that it would be impossible.

There isn't understanding, it's just an emulation, black box style.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Shostak

I think it takes 10 hours to accomplish a brain-peeling to create a digital mind from a human. It should take no more than that to combine two separate digital minds (ghosts).

It's a lot easier to download a database than to seamlessly merge two databases. Copying a database is pretty much only limited by data transfer speeds, even a fairly large database can probably be copied in under an hour. Merging two databases, assuming the databases do not have identical structure (which is likely the case for brains and brain emulation) requires analyzing both databases to find equivalencies and could easily require programmer-years for even a moderate size database.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It's a lot easier to download a database than to seamlessly merge two databases. .

A human mind is probably a lot more than a database. It's probably at least an OS and it might be a unique programming language.

[Shostak]

Thank you all for your responses. I've since found this thread which discusses both sides of the issue. Why it didn't turn up in my earlier searches is beyond me. Anyway, my apologies for hauling out this dead horse for another beating.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

A human mind is probably a lot more than a database.

A human mind in THS is a database, though likely turing-complete.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

A human mind in THS is a database, though likely turing-complete.

You have a cite for that?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You have a cite for that?

We know that it can be copied around, so it's not hardware; it's something interpretable. Other than that, the entire distinction between database and program is artificial (generally programs aren't self-modifying but they can be, and brains almost certainly are), and it can't be a programming language because a language is just the rules used to describe/interpret a program or database.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Shostak

My apologies if this has been discussed already, but I've not found an answer through various searches of the THS forum and I don't have all of the THS books.

Does any of the published material discuss merged uploads? This could be either one or more Xoxes going about their business for a while and then collating in their new experiences with the original, or separate ghosts engaged in symbiogenesis by digitally combining to form a new being.

I would expect the result of merged ghosts to be unable to think coherently because of too many program conflicts.