I wrote a piece yesterday regarding evolution, but let's wind the clock backwards on that one and use it to peer into the past, from the future.
Many works of science fiction as well as some predictions by serious thinkers hypothesize that enormous amounts of computing power will be available in the future. Think quantum computers, world spanning supercomputers, or even computational engines the size of entire solar systems.
Let us assume for a moment that these predictions are spot on. One thing that later generations might do with their super-powerful computers is run detailed simulations of their ancestors. Because what else do you do when you have virtually unlimited ability to compute but compute all the things, seems logical.
Because their computers would be so powerful, they could run a vast amount of simulations, assuming that these simulated people are conscious - then it could be the case that the vast majority of minds like ours do not belong to the original race that spawned us, but, instead to people simulated by the technologically advanced descendants.
If this were the case, it would be rational and quite logical to think that there is the possibility that we are among the simulated minds rather than among the original biological ones.
Therefore, if we don’t think that we are currently living in a computer simulation, we are not allowed to believe that we will have descendants who will run lots of such simulations of their ancestors. So one can safely assume (due to technological advancement) the matrix is real, and you are already in it.
So let's have a think about how we could potentially achieve this goal.
Introducing the Matrioshka Brain.
A Matrioshka brain comes from the idea of using a Dyson Sphere or Dyson Swarm around a star as a gigantic computer. Essentially a computational engine that is driven by the power of the star itself.
The name Matrioshka comes from the Russian dolls, the ones that come apart and have a smaller copy inside and so on.
Similarly, the brain would be nested Dyson spheres (or semisolid shells made out of a swarm of nanites for example), drawing most or all of their power from the star and propagating it up out through each layer of the brain.
The inner shells could run at almost the same temperature as the star itself, while the outer ones would be almost at the temperature of interstellar space.
It's a system whereby each layer directly feeds the next one, each hop in the chain increasing efficiency as you scale further out. The only real limitation is the construction materials, output of the star itself, cosmic background temperature, the Carnot efficiency formula, and the Landauer Limit.
Due to the sheer size of the constructs required to build these hypothetical systems, the energy input and computational ability and material challenges it is likely in the far future however once created we can safely assume that they could simulate all that is, ever was, and could possibly be.
To give you an idea of the computational power of a brain around a typical star, the following maths has to take place.
Sun's power = 3.86 x 10^26 watts,
Energy / Calculation = 2.67 x 10^-23 J/Bit.
Computational speed (power vs energy per calculation) = 1.45 x 10^49 Hz,
Approximately 40 orders of magnitude times more processing power than the device you are reading this on, and 34 orders of magnitude more than the current best guess to run a full simulation of a human mind, so just a single Matrioshka Brain could simulate about a ten billion trillion trillion people at once and in real time.
Now this is just a typical star, if you were to go and find some of the super-massive stars with much more surface area, outputting tens of thousands of times more power, well things start to get out of hand very quickly.
Combine all of that processing power into a single entity instead of running multiple smaller simulations and it is not unfeasible for this 'computer' to figure out how to break Faster Than Light travel, stable wormhole tunnels into other dimensions, reversing the sphere/swarm to take advantage of black holes perhaps? or even to use quantum entanglement to link a universal swarm of brains.
Talk about infinite possibilities.
I hope you enjoyed my not so simple words today, this was challenging to write and hope I presented things in a way that was fairly easy to understand. At least without digging too far into the maths, (not going to lie the numbers make my head hurt).
However this is a lead on from the evolutionary topic that I really wanted to explore with you.
Have a glorious day, Much love, and I look forward to your feedback in the comments section below.
cool
I enjoy your post very much. Thank you for shearing
I guess right not computational power is not the biggest challenge for us, but how brain works and how to put this knowledge into algorithms.
Yeah that's what I was going to say... The main trick is setting up the correct model with all the right parameters etc.......
Well just simulate everything down to the atomic level, and you don't 'need' to know how the brain works. It will already be supported by the underlying framework.
great story dear...Need more from u.
Following u
You have an infinite mind, and you are an old soul... That is very interesting what you present. I am fascinated by the concept... Though I must say I have to reach in order to understand. I definitely am not a math mind either, thank you for sharing and so will I!
Such a poweful content. I think Evolution of Technology can be regulated.
In Humanity, we Trust.
Humanity perhaps. Except humanity is not in charge... we've got a bad apple on the ship.
Thanks for sharing. <3 I think it already is. But regulation only works while we are more powerful.
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Do I want something that will be so cognitively different from me?
Russian dolls! Yes. It made a lot more sense when I used this comparison. The nested rings of computational elements within one another – is that me in there? Oh, the more I read it, the more sense it made, even if I don’t like everything that I see in their retrospection.
Feeling almost Godlike in its reach.
Upped and Steemed
Incredible sammosk. Something to ponder no doubt ;)
I'm so glad you enjoyed. <3
This was a great read :)
So much here to open your mind to new ideas <3
I'm glad you enjoyed it oh creative one. <3
One of the issues regarding the brain is how it's so efficient for its size and how it manages do do all what it does. We spend decades trying to figure one computer vision and it's just one aspect of the brain. But the payout to that are immense.
By the way if you like technology/gaming/personal development I'm writing about it, you might like it :)
Matrioshka Brain, similar to the matrix movie/concept?
Kind of, but in the matrix the reality wasn't real. it was just another layer to the matrix, this is more like a possible groundwork for the matrix 'reality'
Why do I feel like your saying what I'm saying, but saying it in a way that contradicts my saying and supports yours.
What I meant was, in 'the matrix' as in the movie, the reality in there was an illusion, yet another layer to the matrix, when I said groundwork for a matrix reality, I was talking about the construct that houses the entirety of 'the matrix'.
If you feel like I'm being argumentative I apologize that is not my intent.
Not being argumentative, I understand your point. In the movie there were two worlds, what your suggesting is to create just one without jumping back and forth right?
Yes.
When the lightbulb finally turns on :)
I really hope those who read this consider the ideas you put forward here. Too many people just dismiss the notion that we could potentially be a simulation, but the potential is there and easily imagined. I think people's lack of understanding on this is due to the limitation of our own computational power right now, and they aren't able to see the possibilities that exist in our universe.
Broaden the mind, look along the branches and into the glorious future that awaits us all! <3
I believe we are in a downturn at the moment where the biological is being superseded by the technological, can only hope that when the time comes the tech supports and empowers us, instead of discarding.
I think you are right, technology has crippled the abilities of a large amount of our population. Simple tasks that we knew for years are no longer taught or learned because they can be done by computers. As long as we keep advancing I suppose that is fine, but if there ever comes a time when technology fails us, or we advance to the point where it no longer needs the human interface. What will we do then?
Pray to the omnissiah for deliverance?
Worship the machine-spirits?
Or knuckle down and load the boltguns.
It wont even be a war, the construct will ohmn nom nom us before we even pick up a rock.
It would be over before anyone knew what even happened...years before.
I was trying to be kind!!! <3
Interesting idea! I haven't heard its=)))
Its pretty cool stuff, I'm going to delve into some other more far out topics sooner or later. But this was a deep dive into the rabbit hole :D Glad you enjoyed Much love <3
Still too much maths for my meagre brain 😆 I've read something like this before, it's an entertaining and occasionally terrifying idea.
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Well... that hurt my frontal lobe, just slightly. Your imagination reminds me of a child - limitless. It's a pity there are not more dreamers in the world like you. That imangination, combined with a mathematical mind... it is an interesting combination. Reminds me of people like Einstein, Newton, and Tesla. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that you are a genius. But, it is possible that you just might be a freaking genius. There's just no way for me to tell if you're finished with your Ph.D. in theoretical calculus yet, or not.
Anyways, gigantic brains aside, what is the purpose that drives your thoughts? Are you just curious about the universe you find yourself in, or is there some spiritual or religious catalyst for your musings?
What are you trying to do here? Impress us with your thoughts, stimulate us with your thoughts, or just talk about them?
Stimulate your thoughts, potentially creating new hypothesis and theories driving further and greater thoughts. Ripples spreading in a pond. Emergence. Find like-minded people and journey with them as well. I'm not looking for admiration or validation of what I think, just looking for engagement and sharing / empowering of others. We are all in this together, so lets hold hands and work together.
Talk about my musings, interact with peoples on the interwebs, I figured this kind of stuff was fairly niche so I'm looking to establish myself in it.
There are many reasons why I do what I do but first and foremost is to empower uplift enrich and drive others to further creative processes, I love engaging with others on here as well, so there is that too. It's a little bit of me and it's a little bit of you, all things in balance. <3
Thank you for sharing. Much love <3