Mind uploading is the hypothetical process of simulating a person’s brain in a computer to achieve the same intelligence, memories, personality, identity, and consciousness. It could allow humans to live longer, but there are ethical concerns. The concept is compatible with causal functionalist philosophies of mind, and parts of a mouse’s brain have been simulated. The process requires high-resolution scanners, a computer with large storage and processing power, and a virtual environment. Destructive loading involves freezing and scanning the brain, while non-destructive loading uses blood-borne nanomachines. Mind uploading is currently science fiction, but the technology may become available in the future.
Mind uploading, also known as whole brain emulation, mind transfer, or simply “uploading” (never “unloading”) is the hypothetical act of simulating someone’s brain in a computer so well that the simulation possesses the same intelligence, memories, personality, identity and consciousness of the original person. If successful, this could allow humans to live for an extremely long time, as it would be much easier to cure health problems and the effects of aging if it required little more than changing a few lines of code. The ethical implications of mind uploading have been explored at length in science fiction and some branches of philosophy.
Some people strongly object to the idea that mind uploading is even possible, as the qualities of human intelligence are often considered to be inseparable from their biological substrate. However, the concept of loading is fully compatible with the causal functionalist philosophies of mind popular among brain scientists, which argue that the brain is defined only by the causal interactions and functions of its components, rather than by the material they are made of. facts. Popular opinion towards the concept of mind uploading is difficult to gauge, as few people have even heard of the concept, much less seriously thought about it.
Mind uploading is beyond the capabilities of our technology today, but not as much as many think. Parts of a mouse’s brain have been simulated in very high resolution inside computers. The equipment needed for a successful mind-upload session would include:
1) High resolution scanners, such as an electron microscope or nanomachines.
2) A computer with large amounts of storage memory and processing power, to store data as it arrives and implement it as a program once the scan is complete.
3) A virtual environment to experience the upload once the upload process is complete. It might resemble a much more advanced version of an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), like SecondLife or World of Warcraft.
In destructive loading, the subject’s brain would be frozen in liquid nitrogen, then cut into small segments, which would be scanned. The scan would then be incorporated into a running program which would be implemented on an advanced computer. Estimates for the processing power required of such a computer range from approximately 1013 (10 trillion) to 1017 (100,000 trillion) operations per second. For comparison, the fastest computer of 2007, Blue Gene/L, operates at about 500 trillion operations per second.
Alternatives to destructive loading include non-destructive loading, in which neurons are scanned using blood-borne nanomachines rather than destructive slicing, or cyborgization, in which parts of the brain are progressively replaced with cybernetic components until the whole what becomes a computer.
For now, mind uploading remains science fiction, but it’s only a matter of time before the technology becomes available and people start trying the procedure outlined above.
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