50
votes
Accepted
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
Brains aren't computers
We often talk about brains as though they are computers, but while it's often a useful shorthand, it's not accurate. A little inaccuracy can save a ton of explanation, but it ...
- 15.4k
30
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
The thing about a brain is, it's already got a daemon in it. After all, what are we but tenuous wisps of information inhabiting a physical substrate?
If a daemon wanted to inhabit a brain it would ...
- 6,449
25
votes
Accepted
Is is plausible that we could have neuronal maps of human brains without mind uploading being possible?
Insufficient Compute
It's entirely reasonable that we would have the technology to take a full snapshot scan of the brain, yet be unable to simulate how it would evolve over time due to the superfine ...
- 3,611
21
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A person has composite memories from countless pasts - how would you detect this with modern medical equipment?
Modern medical equipment could not identify the specific situation. fNCI, fMRI and the like cannot "read memories" in any way. If you were generalising from stories where that was possible ...
- 26.1k
19
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Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
Human brains are not - and let me be completely clear here, not even a little bit - like computers.
(And before anyone complains, I'm not the one that tagged this as neuroscience!)
Computer hardware ...
- 7,365
16
votes
Is is plausible that we could have neuronal maps of human brains without mind uploading being possible?
The connectome is not enough. To copy the mind you also need the state of each neuron.
The brain is hardware. The mind is software. Having a full schematic of the hardware doesn't tell you much about ...
- 98.1k
15
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
Doped silicon is just simpler than organic molecules. Yes, they can tamper with neurons, but they have to know what they are doing, and it's just easier to do it with logic gates than with the mess ...
- 30.5k
12
votes
A person has composite memories from countless pasts - how would you detect this with modern medical equipment?
By seeing brain areas not be active
fMRI and EEG is probably your best bet. Let's take martial arts as an example. Because it is both about the experience and skill, we know that both the temporal ...
- 40.3k
11
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
It's for a story where you want demon-infested electronics?
Tin whiskers. And various other metal whiskers.
Under strain (from temperature, vibration, induced magnetic fields, whatever), tin and other ...
- 2,997
10
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
Demons can start manipulating electrical signals below 0,2 micrometers and they can mostly influence electrons traveling through circuits directly.
The human nervous system works at around 0,2 microns....
- 45.7k
10
votes
Accepted
How could real-time sentence translation work if using a "common middle ground" language?
You're overthinking it. This happens all the time with bilingual speakers. Their native tongue may order words in one way, but their learned language orders words a different way. When such a person ...
- 1,622
10
votes
Accepted
What would the consequences of abusing my fictional drug be?
The typical response of the brain to any neuroactive drug is to reduce sensitivity to the drug and whatever natural compound it is an analogue of. So, if we have a drug that increases neuroplasticity ...
- 67.1k
8
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
This sounds eerily similar to Warhammer 40K...
And so I will borrow an idea from 40K:
Sufficiently advanced computers become aware of the presence of Demons before they develop a set of Ethics.
The ...
- 35k
8
votes
Could a human brain be non-lethally manipulated by an array of overlapping masers (microwave lasers)?
If you replace your microwave lasers with (electric) magnets, then this is something which is actually being used in medical research right now. Transcranial magnetic stimulation can be used to "...
- 81
8
votes
Could a human brain be non-lethally manipulated by an array of overlapping masers (microwave lasers)?
Microwaves, when absorbed, interact with the rotational and vibrational states of the interacting molecules. In layman terms they warm them up.
As far as I know, the only thing that excess heat does ...
- 301k
8
votes
Accepted
Eternity - psychological process behind forgetting one's name
To forget the old, they will live the new.
https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/ift/ift01.htm
"The creatures of the forest scented me and knew I was alone. They
stole with silken pad behind my ...
- 306k
7
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
They hate water
Human beings, including our brains, are bags of mostly water. It turns out that water is deadly to the aliens. In much the same way, that when we mix water with electronics bad things ...
- 3,078
7
votes
Would a genetically-inserted “memory” be present in all neurons? Or just specific neurons?
Unlike us mammals, who rely most on learning, some kinds of animals, most notably birds and insects, rely very strongly on very elaborate and complex built-in instincts.
At the initial point in the ...
- 98.1k
7
votes
Is is plausible that we could have neuronal maps of human brains without mind uploading being possible?
Getting a scan of an object is something entirely different than being able to reconstruct it.
The brain operates fast, and is heavily inter-connected. Thus if you don't sample everything at the ...
- 199
7
votes
Is is plausible that we could have neuronal maps of human brains without mind uploading being possible?
The human mind is WAY more than just a set of neural pathways in the brain
Science has already proven that that the human body has all sorts of systems all over the body and within the molecular level ...
- 106k
6
votes
This drug can rewire the brain and “insta-teach”. How fast can I make it work?
Dream Learning
1: Hacking the brain requires using the brain
The best way to make a believable "brain hack" is to treat it kind of like a computer hack. You can not force the brain (or a ...
- 106k
6
votes
Are Liquid Brains Possible or Viable?
In terrestrial biology, brains work by having many neurons, each with many connections to other neurons. It is thought that the particular number and position of the connections between neurons - the ...
- 67.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Demonic possession - incubating in different lobes of the brain yielding different trauma?
So, taking your idea of a turbo charged brain as acting similarly to a brain in an epileptic fit state, that is, receiving too many inputs, your classic interpretation of an epileptic fit is a frontal ...
- 196
5
votes
Accepted
Theoretically, how long could a brain "last" if the body it was in was biologically immortal?
It would seem that there is some debate about the maximum limit of a human life span
115-120 years might seem a reasonable estimate today.
https://time.com/4835763/how-long-can-humans-live/
Given the ...
- 38.4k
5
votes
Eternity - psychological process behind forgetting one's name
Trick them into believing they already forgot a few chunks of their life.
Like I said in my comment, if you want a person to forget their name and identity, leaving them alone in a space is not a good ...
- 14.3k
5
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
As much as I like some of the other answers, they’re missing something somewhat fundamental: biology heals.
Silicon computers can’t heal themselves from Daemon damage. Flaws and failure will persist ...
- 5,659
5
votes
Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
Computers Are Dumb
People think that computers are exceptionally smart because they are able to perform rapid mathematical calculations and initiate complicated processes in the blink of an eye.
As a ...
- 4,306
5
votes
Could a substance (drug, chemical, etc.) instantly teach a language?
RNA theoretically could because it can transfer memories. That has been demonstrated in snails, at least.
Though it might take a while to load into the brain's optimization system enough to make ...
- 406
5
votes
How could real-time sentence translation work if using a "common middle ground" language?
Fun idea.
The use of the common language is a red herring. In the end, a sentence formulated in the speaker's language has to be cast in the listener's language.
In the field of automated translation, ...
- 98.1k
5
votes
How could real-time sentence translation work if using a "common middle ground" language?
Time to invoke some Clarkean Magic
I know two languages: my native English and Finnish. English tends to put the subject before the verb. Finnish tends to put the subject after the verb. (thanks @...
- 132k
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