Timeline for What's it like to be an uploaded human with limited computing power?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 12, 2020 at 15:53 | comment | added | KalleMP | @JohnDvorak You don't need to fill the slums with toxins, seems to happen automatically. In the early 1900's, it was found that children living in slum conditions in industrial cities of Europe developed Rickets from industrial pollution limiting solar Vitamin-D synthesis. Similar to what we see happening with CoViD-19 and air pollution in northern Italy. | |
| May 12, 2020 at 5:02 | comment | added | Michael | @JoshPart: In a multiplayer game it depends if the outcome is evaluated on the client(s) or on the server. In OP’s scenario there would only be the server. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 22:30 | comment | added | Josh Part | @Michael Imagine an FPS videogame. You get in front of another player with lag. You shoot him and he moves away. Your client will perceive him moving and then getting shot. Its no about how many pixels per second you move; its about how many cycles it takes for the other simulated human to receive and react to your message sent. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 13:30 | comment | added | Zibbobz | Normally I would expect a more detailed response, but honestly this is a very effective visual demonstration. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 11:50 | comment | added | rexkogitans | During a lag, all the world - including everyone's mind - would lag and hence you wouldn't notice it. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 9:49 | comment | added | John Dvorak | Plot hook: dystopian future where the rich people overclock their brains as a mark of their status. The protagonist meets a person, and meets up with them, who reveals to the audience that it actually quite sucks, because the only end result is that it creates a divide between classes, and that you have to constantly wait for everything because nobody ever figured out a way to turn off the damn effect, and you can't afford to anyways in case another noble wants to talk to you. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 9:41 | comment | added | John Dvorak | @Michael if you want a low-tech version if this scenario, you could have some fancy chemicals that overclock the brain. Like coffee, but it's super-expensive and it actually works. Another idea would be to fill the slums with toxic gas that slows the brain instead. I think the latter would fit perfectly into the typical dystopian setting! | |
| May 11, 2020 at 9:37 | comment | added | Michael | Yes of course, that’s why I wrote all humans. But as Peter pointed out, it would make for an interesting world where rich people can gain an advantage by buying more computational resources. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 9:34 | comment | added | John Dvorak | @Michael if different chunks - parts of simulated spacetime - run at different clock speeds, you will notice from the inside! If the time warp coefficient between two chunks changes you won't know if one slowed down or the other sped up, but with a large pool of chunks to compare the clock speed between, you will be able to paint a pretty good picture. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 9:22 | comment | added | Michael | @JohnDvorak, Peter LeFanu Lumsdaine: Because you are perceiving it from outside. For the simulation itself, if an object moves 10 pixels per frame it doesn’t matter if each frame takes 10ms or 10s (wall clock time) to compute. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 8:49 | comment | added | Peter LeFanu Lumsdaine | @Michael: If you’ve ever tried an online multiplayer game with real-time physics (even very simple), you’ll know that lag is very perceptible — even in your own movement in isolation, but especially when interacting with other players. And when players have different amounts of lag, those with better connections will (effectively) have faster reaction times and better agility. This could make for a fascinating dystopia — the rich (or otherwise advantaged) get assigned more computational resources, and can think and move faster than the rest of us… | |
| May 11, 2020 at 8:41 | comment | added | Martijn | You know those moments where you've crossed an intersection and than think "wait, was it actually green?!" ? Lag. | |
| May 11, 2020 at 2:19 | comment | added | user6760 | random uploaded human with laser pointer coroutine: "this better be lag or I'll make sure to wipe the smug from the cat face!" | |
| May 10, 2020 at 9:55 | comment | added | John Dvorak | ... and if you can predict the server load in each chunk and predict when the time factor changes, you should even be able to extract energy from those changes. Throwing a ball into a slow chunk and back after the chunk speeds up should do. | |
| May 10, 2020 at 9:53 | comment | added | John Dvorak | @Michael they would, because the physics engine would now appear to run faster. And if they are synced with the physics engine, there will be significant discrepancies at chunk boundaries. If the electromagnetic field is simulated, there will be significant diffraction at the chunk boundary. If the body is simulated, crossing the chunk boundary will be quite unpleasant. Energy should still be conserved (the time warp is time invariant), but momentum won't be (a chunk with very slow time would essentially act like a solid wall). | |
| May 10, 2020 at 9:04 | comment | added | Michael | If all humans and their simulated environment were slowed down they wouldn’t even notice it. | |
| May 10, 2020 at 0:48 | comment | added | user535733 | This explains the world speeding up on me last Tuesday. | |
| May 10, 2020 at 0:46 | history | answered | Willk | CC BY-SA 4.0 |