I often ponder what life might be like among Uploads: human minds which have been scanned into machines, leaving the flesh behind and spending most of their time in simulated worlds. (See, for example, Greg Egan<\/a>‘s novels Permutation City<\/i> and Diaspora<\/i>.) So instead I assume that each private domain includes a door to a shared space (or several); and think about how such spaces might be designed and what their conventions might be.<\/p>\n A simulated space can of course be modelled on any of a thousand fantasy settings; each presents its own set of design problems.<\/p>\n But I reckon the most popular form is a city, with streets, fountains, parks, churches and so on, surrounded by scenery. When you cross a ‘county line’ you’re in another world, continuous with the previous but simulated separately, in a different style (realistic, painterly, cartoon<\/a>) with different laws of ‘nature’.<\/p>\n (What happens if levitation is legal in some counties and not others? A flying carpet may abruptly become a plummeting carpet, but it still has horizontal momentum. A new sport suggests itself: finding the appropriate altitude and speed at which to cross the border so as to hit a landmark.)<\/p>\n I feel that the map (which in this case is<\/i> the territory) ought to change over time: mountains migrate like sea-waves<\/a>; islands swim around each other like Boids<\/a>; buildings jostle (and negotiate) for position. The counties themselves might flow about like tiny tectonic plates.<\/p>\n So much for the environment, though the subject is by no means exhausted; now for the occupants.<\/p>\n Bodiless people in fantasy worlds can obviously manifest themselves any way they like. It will be interesting to see how many wear a grossly fanciful form – troll, centaur, cartoon wabbit – longer than novelty can explain. (And what does it feel like to shake hands with a cartoon?)<\/p>\n Within cities, people walk; the point of a city (in this context) is to encourage unplanned encounters, and a vehicle detracts from that. Fantasy bodies never tire, nor get flat feet. Of course horses – animated by Uploaded minds of real horses? – are used for sport and ceremony.<\/p>\n Size restriction seems likely in public places. In Neal Stephenson’s Metaverse (Snow Crash<\/i>) your avatar can be no taller than your real body, which seems unnecessarily cruel to midgets. I propose a rule and a custom: maximum size is the same for everyone (say six feet), and it’s customary to stay somewhat smaller than that (say five feet) except when seeking attention.<\/p>\n Later:<\/strong> I have almost never been able to get anyone else to join me in such speculations; this thread in rec.arts.sf.science<\/a> is the exception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I often ponder what life might be like among Uploads: human minds which have been scanned into machines, leaving the flesh behind and spending most of their time in simulated worlds. (See, for example, Greg Egan‘s novels Permutation City and … Continue reading
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\nIt could be that each household has a seamless private universe, into which others teleport when invited. This does not appeal to me, because it makes chance encounters impossible, and because I suspect we need some psychological distance from our neighbors.<\/p>\n