From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@rogers.com)
Date: Sun 16 Apr 2006 - 17:13:00 GMT
At 11:29 AM 4/16/2006 +0100, you wrote:
>Saturday, April 15, 2006, 9:11:22 PM, Keith wrote:
>
> > For example, when a human mind is
> > implemented in computer hardware does it get infected with a meme or a
> > computer virus?
>
>Just to show I'm not averse to discussion mutation: surely that's a
>computer mind, not a human mind?
Chunk of a fiction story I wrote currently in voting on K5.
Early in the second wet season Suskulan received a major system
upgrade. The upgrade went swiftly because Suskulan had stockpiled tens
of thousands of liters of parts and fuel--most of it in the form of methyl
alcohol--that he also was keeping in stock to be converted to fat if needed.
Suskulan's first serious patient after the upgrade was Zaba, an 11 year old
who had been shot through her spine while working in a garden. She was
near (or even beyond) death when she was placed in Suskulan's "hands."
As the nanotech mist enveloped her still body, Suskulan told her parents:
"I can heal Zaba but it will take at least seven days, perhaps as many as
ten. You can to talk to her this time tomorrow."
This time the nanomachines didn't infiltrate her brain just to shut it
down, though they did that and reversed the mild damage from shock and low
blood flow. The nanomachines mapped out all her neural circuits and cell
connections. Shortly before her parents entered the clinic the next day
they tentatively restored consciousness, partly in her brain--which was far
below the temperature needed to run on its own--and partly in the haze of
nanomachines that were also simulating input in place of her eyes and ears.
"What happened to me? Where am I? Where is my body?" Zaba asked as she
became conscious. She was calm because the nanomachines were acting as
tranquilizers. Suskulan was listening to an interface to her motor cortex.
Simulating a wire frame human in her visual cortex to give Zaba
orientation, Suskulan explained.
"You were shot, you are in the clinic Suskulan at the tata, and your body
is being repaired."
"The clinic recently gained new magic powers to speak to spirits while
their bodies are being repaired."
"The repair will take some time, even I do not know exactly how many
days." "You were badly injured."
"My mother and father," Zaba started and then stopped.
"They brought you to me and are very concerned. I can extend my power and
let you use it to talk to them as if you were speaking through a telephone."
Zaba had never used a telephone, the tata being well out of range of a cell
tower but she knew what they were like. Suskulan's wire frame image handed
Zaba a cell phone image. She reached out with *her* wire frame body and
took it from him just as Zaba's mother picked up a phone appearing object
from the table.
"Zaba?"
"Mother!"
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