A very long time ago, I’d read a transhumanist story somewhere on the Internet, and now I can’t find it. Which is a shame, because it was quite enjoyable. Can someone else help me track it down ?
WARNING: possible spoilers below, for a work of fiction whose name I do not know, so these are spoilers of the worst kind.
The story begins with the invention of a crude form of mind uploading (one’s body must still be alive for one’s mind to function). The researcher whose mind is uploaded into a simulation ends up spending a much larger period of subjective time there than he expected, because the simulation allows him to think much faster.
The technology is improved upon and perfected, and the subjective time acceleration increases by orders of magnitude. People end up spending more and more time online, as their physical bodies lie at home, hooked up to IVs. Many scientific advances are made during this time, including strong nano; these advances are immediately utilized to increase the efficiency of mental processing nodes even further.
Unfortunately, the mini-society of these uploads pulls ahead too fast and too dramatically. They are noticed by various organizations and agencies, then ruthlessly hunted down and captured; as it turns out, being able to think incredibly quickly is not much of an asset when one’s body lies immobile, embedded in a world of hostile humans.
Final spoiler warning !
The story—what little I remember of it—concludes with the accelerated humans uploading their minds into fully independent nodes, then launching themselves on a mini-spaceprobe, away from Earth.
Help me, Less Wrong, you’re my only hope !
A very long time ago, I’d read a transhumanist story somewhere on the Internet, and now I can’t find it. Which is a shame, because it was quite enjoyable. Can someone else help me track it down ?
WARNING: possible spoilers below, for a work of fiction whose name I do not know, so these are spoilers of the worst kind.
The story begins with the invention of a crude form of mind uploading (one’s body must still be alive for one’s mind to function). The researcher whose mind is uploaded into a simulation ends up spending a much larger period of subjective time there than he expected, because the simulation allows him to think much faster.
The technology is improved upon and perfected, and the subjective time acceleration increases by orders of magnitude. People end up spending more and more time online, as their physical bodies lie at home, hooked up to IVs. Many scientific advances are made during this time, including strong nano; these advances are immediately utilized to increase the efficiency of mental processing nodes even further.
Unfortunately, the mini-society of these uploads pulls ahead too fast and too dramatically. They are noticed by various organizations and agencies, then ruthlessly hunted down and captured; as it turns out, being able to think incredibly quickly is not much of an asset when one’s body lies immobile, embedded in a world of hostile humans.
Final spoiler warning !
The story—what little I remember of it—concludes with the accelerated humans uploading their minds into fully independent nodes, then launching themselves on a mini-spaceprobe, away from Earth.