The premise of bypassing verbal communication and just directly connecting your brains to exchange ideas is one of the long-term motivations for Neurolink, according to Elon Musk. (I wish someone could communicate how to be a decent human being directly to his brain, but let's stick to realistic and achievable goals here.)
You know how the saying goes: Rome's apple wasn't all bitten and chewed up in the same day. I'm really encouraged by the way communication barriers have fallen for so many who had very little chance to meaningfully interact with the rest of the world, and want to keep focusing on that particular baby in the bathwater of dookie out there.
I just finished a book where ‘mindspeech’ was a thing and the protagonist manages to teach it to another character (who speaks another language) but it’s tricky and stuff still gets muddled. I think even communicating without words we are different enough that it’ll be problematic; ask Spock.
Something interesting about Elon/Neuralink is that humans communicate really s l o w compared to computers. Speaking is faster than typing but even then we’re like an old 14K modem to a modern computer, so communicating with computers via a direct link means they might not get bored and just kill us all waiting for us to finish a thought
Even if I could, not sure I would. Remember in one of the Aliens the old dude stows away and he has a full exoskeleton so he’s a BEAST at 110 or whatever? He still has his brain tho, maybe that …
I'm not sure I would either, but would especially like to leave all cards on the table and never say never. If I'm 90 and about to croak but could digitize somehow and feel like it was still me, feels like a pretty good risk/reward there (with plenty of caveats and loads of nuance I'm utterly glossing over, of course).
In Shell Game (podcast), Evan trains an AI with all his dad’s old lectures and builds a bot with his voice to answer questions from people. His dad was an expert in a particular field of civil engineering. I keep a picture of my (dead) dad in my kitchen. If I could animate it with his voice and mannerisms to say good morning to me and hit me with a dad joke once in a while I think I would go for it.
Okay yeah, a really punny dad joke would actually be really great. It gives you the good feels without being too terribly creepy or disrespecting the actual memory you have.
A copy certainly isn't that person, but maybe you can keep your memory alive this way. That's not nothing.
It’s definitely an unveiling of Tesla’s character here. I love how you point out those difficult truths: language and communication aren’t easy. It takes true mastery to embody, speak, and convince. I guess I have a more romantic view of Tesla, and perhaps his background explains some of his challenges in going the extra mile with marketing. Still, he did go the extra mile where it mattered most: in the work itself.
Thank you for joining the ride! It was fun, we should do it again :)
I didn't talk much about the romantic view, but I also share that - it's just that I knew the other view was more rare, so of course I had to explain that to folks! I like how the two balanced each other out.
The premise of bypassing verbal communication and just directly connecting your brains to exchange ideas is one of the long-term motivations for Neurolink, according to Elon Musk. (I wish someone could communicate how to be a decent human being directly to his brain, but let's stick to realistic and achievable goals here.)
You know how the saying goes: Rome's apple wasn't all bitten and chewed up in the same day. I'm really encouraged by the way communication barriers have fallen for so many who had very little chance to meaningfully interact with the rest of the world, and want to keep focusing on that particular baby in the bathwater of dookie out there.
I just finished a book where ‘mindspeech’ was a thing and the protagonist manages to teach it to another character (who speaks another language) but it’s tricky and stuff still gets muddled. I think even communicating without words we are different enough that it’ll be problematic; ask Spock.
Something interesting about Elon/Neuralink is that humans communicate really s l o w compared to computers. Speaking is faster than typing but even then we’re like an old 14K modem to a modern computer, so communicating with computers via a direct link means they might not get bored and just kill us all waiting for us to finish a thought
Sure, unless you swap out the piping for something that works at light speed. I think it's possible in theory, but do you mind going first?
Even if I could, not sure I would. Remember in one of the Aliens the old dude stows away and he has a full exoskeleton so he’s a BEAST at 110 or whatever? He still has his brain tho, maybe that …
I'm not sure I would either, but would especially like to leave all cards on the table and never say never. If I'm 90 and about to croak but could digitize somehow and feel like it was still me, feels like a pretty good risk/reward there (with plenty of caveats and loads of nuance I'm utterly glossing over, of course).
I would like an exoskeleton now, please.
In Shell Game (podcast), Evan trains an AI with all his dad’s old lectures and builds a bot with his voice to answer questions from people. His dad was an expert in a particular field of civil engineering. I keep a picture of my (dead) dad in my kitchen. If I could animate it with his voice and mannerisms to say good morning to me and hit me with a dad joke once in a while I think I would go for it.
Okay yeah, a really punny dad joke would actually be really great. It gives you the good feels without being too terribly creepy or disrespecting the actual memory you have.
A copy certainly isn't that person, but maybe you can keep your memory alive this way. That's not nothing.
It’s definitely an unveiling of Tesla’s character here. I love how you point out those difficult truths: language and communication aren’t easy. It takes true mastery to embody, speak, and convince. I guess I have a more romantic view of Tesla, and perhaps his background explains some of his challenges in going the extra mile with marketing. Still, he did go the extra mile where it mattered most: in the work itself.
Thank you for joining the ride! It was fun, we should do it again :)
I didn't talk much about the romantic view, but I also share that - it's just that I knew the other view was more rare, so of course I had to explain that to folks! I like how the two balanced each other out.
It works to stand out, the less paved route! I am glad you did, it does complement my more romantic view. I agree, perfect balance :)