What about legality of mana usage? My life could be dramatically changed by adding a few zeroes to my bank account, which would only require changing a few bits, which are probably not even that difficult to find. That is, this task is probably cheaper than either sterilizing or boiling the glass of water.
There is an issue with “difficulty” of finding some bits. Like, difficulty for whom? A hypothetical agent who has what knowledge exactly? I was thinking about self-improvement, which (within human boundaries) has a nice upper limit—in worst case, you need to change all qbits in your body; but in most reasonable cases a fraction of them would probably suffice. The question is, how to find the relatively few qbits in my brain which would increase my intelligence, or willpower.
Alternatively, modifying other people could be quite profitable. Any person willing to help you is a multiplier for your abilities. The secular alternative to this is social skills (or manipulation).
I suspect that I don’t understand your last sentence at all.
Human behavior becomes a lot less confusing when you categorize each intentional action according to the two aforementioned categories.
Do you mean in this hypothetical universe? I imagine that it would diverge from our own very quickly if feats like your examples were possible for even a small fraction of people. I don’t think intentional actions in such a universe would split nicely into secular and mana actions, they would probably combine and synergize.
[edited]
What about legality of mana usage? My life could be dramatically changed by adding a few zeroes to my bank account, which would only require changing a few bits, which are probably not even that difficult to find. That is, this task is probably cheaper than either sterilizing or boiling the glass of water.
There is an issue with “difficulty” of finding some bits. Like, difficulty for whom? A hypothetical agent who has what knowledge exactly? I was thinking about self-improvement, which (within human boundaries) has a nice upper limit—in worst case, you need to change all qbits in your body; but in most reasonable cases a fraction of them would probably suffice. The question is, how to find the relatively few qbits in my brain which would increase my intelligence, or willpower.
Alternatively, modifying other people could be quite profitable. Any person willing to help you is a multiplier for your abilities. The secular alternative to this is social skills (or manipulation).
I suspect that I don’t understand your last sentence at all.
Do you mean in this hypothetical universe? I imagine that it would diverge from our own very quickly if feats like your examples were possible for even a small fraction of people. I don’t think intentional actions in such a universe would split nicely into secular and mana actions, they would probably combine and synergize.