Don Marti
Sat 18 Sep 2010 12:55:04 PM PDT
Upload
Somehow my idea of the Singularity/upload thing is a little less like the Mark Dominus version and a little more like swapping out computer hardware, you know, "I've had that computer for five years--I've changed the processor three times, the motherboard once, added four hard drives, removed two, and upgraded memory three times."
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I know I went into the clinic for the math coprocessor like three months ago, and haven't blogged about it since, but it just started working. I've been doing the exercises every morning, looking at the algebraic expressions and listening to the audio tracks, but nothing. Even trying "2+3/6" was like looking at one of those Magic Eye pictures. But today it just came on. I can look at all kinds of math stuff and just know what it evaluates to, or visualize a graph. Doesn't really help me with work, but they say you need to get the math coprocessor first in order for the new hardware to figure out your brain to add in other stuff.
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Can't believe how quickly I got used to the math thing once it came on. Now I know why all the new "pop" economics and physics books have equations now. Anyway, today I got the grammar checker, and it just started working. They were right about the math coprocessor finding the right spots in the brain to hook up to. While I was at the clinic, they scanned the parts of my brain that used to do math stuff to see what they're up to, and they're reconnecting to something. Can't really tell what but it explains the weird dreams.
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Decided not to use the free Google upgrade offer, and paid for a generic search component that uses local storage. A little weird to get used to, since just thinking about stuff makes me aware of related literature, but I miss it when I have it off. I tried turning it down for a while and just got nervous. I actually turn it up a little every day now. Brad, the guy who has the desk across from me at the coworking center, got the Google version. Now he's always getting up to go get ice cream or coffee or sneakers or something. Dreams much less vivid now, since the search component shuts off during sleep.
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Big storage upgrade. I feel a lot calmer now, and Dr. Gibson said it's because I'm not "paging" as much, which is a computer science term I'd never heard before but he didn't have to explain to me, wait, hold on. Had to fix a misleading sentence in the Wikipedia article on "virtual memory," it was driving me nuts, like walking on a bunched-up sock, you know?
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Weird legal thing this time at the clinic. Had to sign an agreement not to enter a movie theater or attend any TicketMaster event. Photographic memory was worth it though. Enough of my gray matter is in what they call "noise mode" now that they're going to be able to do the corpus callosum next time.
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Whoa, don't feel too good lately. They say it's normal with the CC upgrade. Everyone on the support group boards says to get the mirror processor.
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Much better. Mirror processor takes over when the bio brain goes into "wig out" mode. Am "I" the mirror processor or the bio brain, or both? Good question, but, come on, part of "me" was in a data center when I started doing the "Google-assisted cognition" thing when writing, before I got any internal hardware. Man, I don't know, part of "me" was a paper notebook before that. Anyway, they've started sending me promotional videos for physical-to-virtual migration. Not interested so far, but maybe I'll feel differently about it when I get a couple more mirror processors.