Uploading a mind to a computer and the art of music

A friend of mine, interested in the ultimate listening experience of music, once thought about what it would mean if you could upload your mind to a computer. So we had a discussion about that. The first though was that you could get rid of a number of analog transformations that added noise to the signal. That is, the music could be fed directly to the (simulated) ear nerves. And so you would get a totally loss-free music experience.

But why stop it at that? When you enjoy a piece of music, there is some kind of mechanism in the brain that do the analysis of the music, which in turns generates the pleasing feeling. Why not directly stimulate this pleasure mechanism? That means you don't need real music any more. Another problem with an uploaded mind could be that it may have almost perfect memory. I believe that surprise is one important part of music. Again, this shouldn't really be a problem if you can simply stimulate the surprise handling mechanisms, and no real surprises are needed.

But then you may as well take it to the next step. Why not directly stimulate the pleasure generating part of the brain, and get exactly the same satisfaction as when you listen to good music?

It can be questioned whether it is the actual experience of pleasure that is the important thing, or the memory of this experience. Why not skip the whole thing about stimulating pleasure, and instead plant a modified memory of having had the pleasure?

Somehow, this doesn't look attractive to me. But then, the technology of uploading probably isn't going to be available for quite a while yet.

Google Wave and games?

There are many people who use email to send funny pictures and movies. It is not unusual for a film clip to come back again after a year, when it has spun around "on the Internet".

With Google Wave you can also attach games (in the form of extensions). I'm convinced that there will be will be a lot of people around the world who develop various funny things, which will then spread around on the Internet. Not only that, Google Wave supports multilayer games in real time. It is impossible to predict how these things will unfold, but it would not surprise me if many people that now send videos and pictures will feel compelled to switch to Google Wave so as not be left out.

This principle, to release forces free on the Internet, is extremely potent. There is an enormous creativity in "the world", waiting to be tapped. 20 years ago I started an experiment in the form of an online multiplayer adventure game where participants (after some effort) could extend the same game. It did not take long until the whole world (in the game) literally exploded by the most extraordinary ideas that I never could have imagined.

Of course, I really hope that there will be no problems with viruses etc. From the beginning, Microsoft Windows, Internet browsers and Office applications allowed almost anything do be done by scripts. Because of viruses and other types of malicious software, it is today severely restricted. In my dreams, I hope the day has now come where there is a trusted platform.

Google Wave and obstacles

It would be nice if all the blogs and news articles on the internet is made as Waves. Comments and responses can then be followed up in your Wave your reader without having to locate the original page. Not to mention how easy it is to add friends to the discussion.

But precisely this may also be a problem for Google Wave. A newspaper depends on their ads, and wants the users to return as much as possible. Wave reduces the need, which may mean that the newspaper chose not to use the Wave technology to publish articles.

The same problem may exist for big bloggers who earn money on their advertising.