Me too, but I think resurrection without a backup should be seriously considered given the possibility of superhuman AI. That is, a simulation based on modelling the behavioural patterns of the person copied, attempting to predict their reactions to a given stimulus. If there are enough records of the person and by the person plus their DNA, given sufficiently powerful AI, such a beta-level simulation might be sufficiently close so that only a powerful posthuman being could notice any difference compared to the original. I’m not sure if Reynolds was the first person to consider this, I doubt it, but I deem the term beta level simulation adequate.
Resurrection without a backup. As with ecosystem reconstruction, such “resurrections” are in fact clever simulations. If the available information is sufficiently detailed, the individual and even close friends and associations are unable to tell the difference. However, transapient informants say that any being of the same toposophic level as the “resurrector” can see marks that the new being is not at all like the old one. “Resurrections” of historical figures, or of persons who lived at the fringes of Terragen civilization and were not well recorded, are of very uneven quality. -- Orion’s Arm—Encyclopedia Galactica—Limits of Transapient Power
I think this should be considered conceivable, but not in the same realm of plausibility as cryonics working. If you rate cryonics chances of working low, this is much lower. If you rate its chances extremely high, this possibility might be in a more moderate range.
My favorite idea is to scan interstellar dust for reflected electromagnetic and gravitational data. Intuitively, I imagine this would lead first to resolving only massive objects like stars and planets, but with time and enough computation it could be refined into higher details.
It was my understanding that this is one of Kurzweil’s eventual goals: reconstructing his father from DNA, memories of people who knew him, and just general human stuff.
Is this a standard term? I’ve only seen it in Alastair Reynolds’s writing.
Me too, but I think resurrection without a backup should be seriously considered given the possibility of superhuman AI. That is, a simulation based on modelling the behavioural patterns of the person copied, attempting to predict their reactions to a given stimulus. If there are enough records of the person and by the person plus their DNA, given sufficiently powerful AI, such a beta-level simulation might be sufficiently close so that only a powerful posthuman being could notice any difference compared to the original. I’m not sure if Reynolds was the first person to consider this, I doubt it, but I deem the term beta level simulation adequate.
I think this should be considered conceivable, but not in the same realm of plausibility as cryonics working. If you rate cryonics chances of working low, this is much lower. If you rate its chances extremely high, this possibility might be in a more moderate range.
My favorite idea is to scan interstellar dust for reflected electromagnetic and gravitational data. Intuitively, I imagine this would lead first to resolving only massive objects like stars and planets, but with time and enough computation it could be refined into higher details.
This is also the approach they take on the TV show Caprica.
It was my understanding that this is one of Kurzweil’s eventual goals: reconstructing his father from DNA, memories of people who knew him, and just general human stuff.