OK anyone who has tried it will admit it is a more than a bit flaky at the moment, if you don't get at least one crash a day you are lucky. Then again flying the Atlantic in the 1920s was not exactly something the average person would think of as commonplace. Even crossing the Atlantic at all would have been considered a leap of faith in the 1500s.

I guess there are two levels at which one looks at this:

The more mundane and possibly realistic is that we sit and home with some VR headset on and virtually go to work meet people socially and go to entertainment etc. All of this is technically feasible in the relatively near future - HiRes displays - better graphics all supported by increased processing power and greater bandwidth.

The other of course more extreme scenario is much more Matrix like where our nervous systems directly interface into the system. Of course if it ever becomes possibly to go this far then why not just junk the soft fleshy stuff all together upload the mind and simply live as an Avatar.

The point I think I am trying to make is this - if humans or rather human minds are to exist primarily within a electronic medium then would they need something that sort of resembled a human world to act as an interface layer. Would a human mind want the reassurance of something that made it feel it still had arms, legs and a head with a face or could it be content to function as pure code?

__________________
Note 1. All requests for planetary demolition must now be submitted in quadruplicate on form UX-565/B4 and be counter-signed by the assistant administrative officer for interstellar traffic calming - department QG-7. Subject to approval by the chief planning officer and the infrastructure development coordination sub-committee.

Pardon me, but I'm failing to see the space/astronomy connection here...

The question seems to refer directly to certain ideas in Quantum Mechanics. Where should it be posted?

I don't even see ATM here, just some ponderings. Perhaps this is babbling?

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Forgive my ignorance...perhaps a link to an appropriate website??

edit to add...answering post #3

Are ponderings out of order here? Just pondering...

Explain how this relates to Quantum Mechanics.

Second life has absolutely nothing do do with mainstream astronomical theory or even against the mainstream astronomical theory.

I will report that this thread needs to be moved to BABBling.

Moved to OTB

__________________
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

If something like Second Life becomes real life, why bother with the Second Life in the first place? I use SL primarily as a fun escape and alternate method of meeting people and learning things (the Rocket display at the International Space Museum is awesome). If this becomes just like going to University, why wouldn't I just go to University?

CJSF

__________________
Two years ago moved from my town
I was looking up past the city lights
But the city lights got in my way

See the constellation ride across the sky
No cigar, no lady on his arm
Just a guy made of dots and lines

-from "See The Constellation"
by They Might Be Giants

Somewhat related...

I never understood the use of holodecks on the "newer" versions of Star Trek.

I mean really...exploring unknown space isn't exciting enough?

people a hundred years ago would have said, "traveling down the highway at 80mph isn't exciting enough? you want a radio too?"

Fair enough..I was merely referring to the more general last paragraph of the opening post. I was relating it to self awareness in computers (even via "transferring" consciousness). I will elaborate if you want me to, but it would appear I would be off topic. Your call.

Cheers.

I seem to recall a few parts where they mentioned that the work could be a drudge.

Star Trek II, remember Chekov's log entry while surveying for Genesis planets? Sounded like he was having a ball, spending 15 months trying to find a proper candidate world.

Star Trek First Contact, the Enterprise's exile into the middle of nowhere to keep Picard away from the Borg. Riker's report was less than enthused.

Consider episodes snapshots of a life that was probably otherwise boring as hell.

Actually, maybe our own universe is a very well done Second Life in somebody else's world! And we are merely characters.

__________________
As above, so below

No that would only work if were characters in an andvanced SIMMS game. That is unless you feel that everything you do is the result of someone outside the universe "pulling your strings".

__________________
Note 1. All requests for planetary demolition must now be submitted in quadruplicate on form UX-565/B4 and be counter-signed by the assistant administrative officer for interstellar traffic calming - department QG-7. Subject to approval by the chief planning officer and the infrastructure development coordination sub-committee.

It seems rather obvious to me that human minds tend to appreciate having a body to use it for mental entertainment.

(think of riding rollercoasters, playing ping-pong, go swimming, sex, climbing, etcetc)

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Think I can petition the GM's to be sold on Ebay to a better player?

This leads to artificial intelligence. If a intelligence/faux intelligence was in a box would it be sentient? What I mean is, if it could interact with us. This question is one of the great ones of our time. Would a clone have the right to claim equality with us? would the clone be but what I said above, but in a meat box? Would a robot with self-direction have a claim on our rights? What is a Robot?

__________________
I have grasped the bull by the tail and am lookin' 'im right in the eye.

This of course all depends on your definition of AI. If you think that an AI is an intelligent machine with a mentality roughly equivalent to a human then yes, it will be sentient, even in a box. Humans are sentient, even in boxes; look at motor car drivers. - well, perhaps a bad example.
But I suspect that the Human Equivalent AI will be one among many different types of AI, and there will be many non-sentient, but still very smart types of AI designed and built long before computer design achieves a human equivalent entity. These alternate types may well be so useful that the human equivalent machine is never built. And if sentient machines are ever built, they could change the shape of human civilisation to an unforeseen extent, so there may be (quite sensible) legal restrictions on such development.Please realise that there is nothing magical or hypertechnological about a clone; a clone is just an identical twin, delayed in time by several years. The clone is fully human, completely independent, and shares no memories with the original.
It seems to be difficult to achieve the medical procedure of human cloning, as there are certain complications associated with the procedure; no confirmed successes are reported yet. But if it becomes commonplace, cloned human will be just like any other identical twin; a completely independent human with no inherited memories.
Robots are already commonplace; see here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot
but a robot with 'self-direction' would be an entirely different proposition, and if sufficiently sophisticated, would 'have a claim on our rights', as you put it. It might be possible to make devices which are fully sentient and yet are also completely subservient to the needs of humanity; but I think that might be very difficult to achieve.
If a sentient machine is not completely subservient to humans then it will have comparable rights to other living creatures, because it will effectively be a living creature. This also applies to an entity in a simulation, of course; if a Second Life participant were a sentient AI avatar then it would need to be treated with the same respect as other humans, in my opinion, anyway.

If such sentient beings are ever created, then they will have the same relationship to rights as we have; in and ideal world we will respect their rights,and perhaps in the long run more importantly they will respect ours.

But we live in a far from ideal world.

__________________
Orion's Arm . The Starlark . Voices: Future Tense- Novella Contest Issue! . OA Flickr set