Impossible FTL

[Noclevername]

I am not entirely convinced that an intelligence residing in a machine, either AI or upload, would be functionally different. They end up with the same limitations and capabilities.

Well, whether that's the case or not depends on a lot of unknown factors such as the method of transfer and the capabilities of the hosting computer or substrate. I've seen many SF stories where a human mind is uploaded "as is" into a simulated reality and edited memory so perfect, that they are left unaware that they have been uploaded at all.

[Solfe]

Well, whether that's the case or not depends on a lot of unknown factors such as the method of transfer and the capabilities of the hosting computer or substrate. I've seen many SF stories where a human mind is uploaded "as is" into a simulated reality and edited memory so perfect, that they are left unaware that they have been uploaded at all.

That in and of itself is a problem. What if the process is non-destructive and it leaves the human donor alive? The machine would be rightly pissed that someone is fooling around with it's wife and interfering with its children, parents or friends. That could get murderous real quick. Or if the process killed the human donor, wouldn't the machine fear and reject the loss of its family? Or worse, believe that someone was interfering with its chosen life? Non-contact would almost seem like abduction or hostage taking. That could escalate rather quickly, too.

Even with edited memories, people tend to sense that something is very wrong when they hit those walls and gaps. I've known a couple of people who have suffered trauma that causes memory loss. Usually people are pretty good at covering gaps so that others don't know, but it's not perfect. If you know what to look for, sometimes they throw "tells" that they have a gap or some other barrier to recall.

This is the reason I have a pair of AI's set up to sacrifice themselves. They are a pair, companions and cannot suffer non-self-canonical loss. Destruction of one or the other or both, even if it revealed their non-human nature would occur in their own memories. They would be no worse off than an ordinary human, which is a process that humans are moderately versed in dealing with.

[Noclevername]

Even with edited memories, people tend to sense that something is very wrong when they hit those walls and gaps.

Sure, that's the major plot point in those stories. But there's a long way between figuring out "something's very wrong" and "I'm a machine in the Matrix".

[profloater]

So, it boils down to free will, the oldest conundrum, whether it exists, evolves, or even makes a difference.

[publiusr]

You might be able to get rid of some of the 'magic' if the two ships are headed towards Ursa Major to investigate the potential 'warm spot' source of the 'Oh My God Particle' (link is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh-My-God_particle), if whatever accelerated the particle gets a hold of the ship.

I think 47 Ursae Majoris has nice exoplanets for such a tale.