[argonaut]

Let's say in 2030 the aliens invade and it works. Let's also assume they're 10000x more powerful than wetware (a highly conservative estimate?). That means in about 1 yr they should be able to attack us as effectively as 30 years of human war. After that they could use their 10000x power advantage to effeftively have the equivalent of 10000 30yr wars looking to wreck havoc.

I mean at this point you're just making things up...

[wangchow]

Honestly, making things up is exactly how we prove if it works or not. For example:

Suppose I can talk into a tiny little device and someone can hear me from miles away.

That sounded like witchcraft at some point but it became a reality. Futuristic thinking needs to suppose lots of crazy-sounding things are possible.

[mikeash]

Compare with:

Suppose I can think into a tiny little device and someone can hear me from miles away.

That still sounds like witchcraft. Before one of them gets invented, or at least the basic underlying principles are discovered, how do you tell them apart?

[greggman]

Simulating a brain is not aliens. Or maybe it is an I'm hopelessly naive. Lots of smart people are working on simulating brains and there estimates are that's it's not that far off from being able to simulate an entire brain in a computer, not at the atom level but at least at the functional level of neurons. At the moment there's no reason to believe they're wrong