Gizmodo on mind uploading, featuring Anders Sandberg

[iancampbell]

Todd - Yes, indeed, back to mind uploading. (Your beliefs seem to be rather close to Wiccan.)

I honestly have no idea what Wiccans believe, so can't agree or disagree.

Consider a thought experiment:

Assume, for the moment, that it is possible to create a piece of (no doubt extremely complex) highly miniaturised technology that responds in all ways, and to all inputs, the same as a neuron. Further assume that these things are reasonably easy to make in extremely large numbers - probably by some method involving nanotechnology. Further assume that the same can be done for all the other types of brain cell.

Now: Start replacing a human brain with these things, gradually - maybe 0.5% of total brain cell numbers per day, each artificial neuron to be put in exactly the same place as the real one you're replacing.

At what point, if at all, does the resultant machine/biological hybrid brain become a machine rather than alive? And once done, have you killed the human the brain is in, replacing xem with a cleverly-programmed robot? My submission is at no point, and no.

I consider human beings to be biological machines, so wouldn't really phrase it quite this way, but I think I get what you're saying.

I believe pretty strongly in Pattern Identity Theory, so my take on this largely aligns with yours. The person is alive the whole time, although the substrate of their mind has changed. They have not been killed and replaced with a robot.

Further, what happens if the new brain has been created all in one go using data from the meat brain to make its detailed structure? Does that change anything?

I'm not entirely sure what you're describing here. Are you referring to non-destructive uploading or something else?

Todd

What I'm referring to is a scan detailed enough to reproduce the structure and processes of a meat brain in a non-biological substrate of some sort. I'm not at all sure that it matters whether the uploading is destructive or otherwise; the information is the same either way.

Whether the copy is really alive or not is more of a religious question, I think.