The terms “whole brain emulation”,” mind uploading” and “substrate independent minds” have been used informally in recent
years to describe a set of related ideas regarding hypothetical possibilities for
transferring or emulating the functioning of a human’s brain or “mind” on a synthetic substrate. It is
my aim to propose a common frame work in which these ideas can be discussed. It
should be clear that the outset that these ideas require a great deal of
speculation and rest on some difficult to define concepts. In order to proceed I
will refer to this set of ideas as “mind
substrate transfer (MST)”
Your brain
could be backed up, for a deadly price
When we die, the neural
connections that make memories start to degrade. But what if our brains could
be preserved? What if our memories could be backed up like computer data?
How does vitrifixation work?
“Vitrifixation”
comprises two processes: fixation and vitrification. Fixation involves using a
chemical called glutaraldehyde to solidify synapses and prevent them from
degrading. In order to enhance preservation further, the brain is stored at
-122°C. This way, it can be stored for hundreds of years, according to Nectome.
A chemical called ethylene glycol is applied to the brains prior to freezing,
to stop the formation of ice crystals. As concentrations of ethylene glycol
increase, the brain is put into a vitreous, or glass-like, state. This is the verification
process. If you think that this all sounds a bit far-fetched, you might be
interested to know that Nectome have already managed to preserve an entire
rabbit brain using vitrifixation. The technique has already reached human
testing. Earlier this year, McIntyre and colleagues used vitrifixation to
preserve the brain of an elderly woman just 2.5 hours after she died. Talking
to MIT Technology Review,
McIntyre claims that the lady’s brain is “one of the best-preserved ever.” There
is one problem, however: although 2.5 hours between death and brain
preservation doesn’t seem like too long, the brain suffers a great deal of
damage in that time.
In
order for the brain to be fully preserved through vitrifixation, it needs to be
fresh. Ideally, the procedure needs to be performed as a person is nearing the
end of their life.
This
means that for Nectome to move their idea forward, they need to find people willing to die to have their
brains fully preserved, in the hope that their memories can one day be
retrieved and transformed into a computer simulation.
THEORATICAL
BENEFITS AND APPLICATIONS1. “Immortality” or backup
In
theory, if the information and processes of the mind can be disassociated from
the biological body, they are no longer tied to the individual limits and
lifespan of that body. Furthermore, information within a brain could be partly
or wholly copied or transferred to one or more other substrates (including
digital storage or another brain), thereby – from a purely mechanistic
perspective – reducing or eliminating "mortality risk" of such
information. This general proposal was discussed in 1971 by bio gerontologist George M. Martin of the University of
Washington.
2. Space exploration
An
“uploaded astronaut” could be used instead of a "live" astronaut in human
spaceflight, avoiding the perils of zero gravity, the vacuum of space, and cosmic
radiation to the human body. It would allow for the use of smaller spacecraft,
such as the proposed StarChip, and it would enable virtually unlimited interstellar
travel distances.
STEPHEN HAWKING
“I THINK THE BRAIN IS LIKE A PROGRAMME IN
THE MIND. WHICH IS LIKE A COMPUTER, SO IT IS THEORITICALLY POSSILE TO COPY THE
BRAIN ONTO A COMPUTER AND SO PROVIDE A FORM OF LIFE AFTER DEATH”
“If
you ask me today, is it possible to live to be 500? The answer is yes,” Bill
Maris says one January afternoon in Mountain View, California. The president
and managing partner of Ventures.
Bill Maris has $425 million to invest this year, and the freedom to invest it
however he wants. He's looking for companies that will slow aging, reverse
disease, and extend life.
WHY IS MIND UPLOADING STILL A HYPOTHESIS?
Whether
or not any form of mind uploading to go beyond biological immortality and reach as post human existence is possible is increasingly seen as a set of
technological problems, especially by transhumanists. None the less, there are
a number of technical and philosophical problems with mind uploading
currently inadequately addressed.
You are dead
Death, no
matter what some people say is bad. Dying whilst literally trying to live
forever would bad too. Destructive methods that kill you and replace you with a
duplicate that thinks there you might not be enough.
Left over copies
Most forms of duplication of yourself lead to the
problem of having an extra version of yourself which, in sci-fi at least, tends
of quickly get killed off. However, this is even more problematic when you
consider things such as non-destructive uploading, you can disagree with you,
which you is the real you. Breaks in consciousness are scary.
What about the soul?
For the purposes of secular discussion,
we usually discount the possibility of a soul as immeasurably things cannot by
our current understanding of the laws of nature affect or interact with us. For
deeper exploration of this issue religious transhumanism may have the answers
for you.
Loss of identity coherence
Even if a form of consciousness
continuity is possible, the new substrate may not be able to function is such a
way that 'you' are 'you' for much longer. This could lead to anything from
becoming a schizophrenic vegetable to a human hating AI-like paperclip maximizer
within seconds.
Non-consensual copies
Is your
mind your intellectual property? Because you may run into all sort of problems.
First of all, what if a powerful AI scanned you or even ran a powerful
simulation of you in order to see how you'd respond to millions of scenarios?
How do you know you're not in that simulation already?
MOHAMED NAVEED
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