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"Science and science fiction, how do you even distinguish the two?"
- Jerry Pournelle
 |
| Cortical Stack | ||
| Implanted hardware device that contains a backup copy of your mental self. |
It would be a shame to be killed if you could just copy your mental self and then record it somewhere at regular intervals. That way, if you were killed, your mental self could just be downloaded into a new body, and you would be as good as new.
| "You can't kill me just by wiping out my cortical stack." "You've got remote storage. How regular is the update?" Bancroft smiled. "Every 48 hours." He tapped the back of his neck. "Direct needlecast from here into a shielded stack over at the PsychaSec installation at Alcatraz." |
| Technovelgy from Altered Carbon,
by Richard Morgan. Published by Del Rey in 2003 Additional resources -
|
However, the problem is that you would be missing the interval of time that extends from your last backup to the point where you were killed. You might want to know what happened in that interval; Lauren Bancroft certainly does.
Compare to the virtual immortality that Arthur C. Clarke offers in his 1956 novel The City and the Stars.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Altered Carbon
More Ideas
and Technology by Richard Morgan
Tech news articles related to Altered Carbon
Tech news articles related to works by Richard Morgan
Cortical Stack-related
news articles:
- 'Mind Uploading' Issue Now Downloadable
- Neural Implant To Treat Memory Loss
- Will You Upload Your Mind Anytime Soon?
- Save Your Brain's Connectome, Upload Yourself Elsewhere
| Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests |
| Neuroplatform Human Brain Organoid Bioprocessor Uses Less Electricity |
| AI Worms That Spread |
| Great. Now AIs Have Access To Hacking Tools |
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'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
'... he realized that the moving thing inside was - of course - a robot.'
