first (?) instance of Non-destructive Uploading?: creation of wormvec

[chris0033547]

Look here:

http://singularityhub.com/2014/12/15/wor...ego-robot/

Here's the raw video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWQnzylhgHc

Although as I understand it, the mind copying process is still not detailed enough.

EDIT:

I will just quote one of the developers from the youtube-video-comments:

We use sound to stimulate chemosensory neurons, specifically the sensory neurons that detect the presence of food. When the sound gets over a certain decibel range, we activate the neurons. Thus the whistling is to signal to the robot that there is food present which usually gets it to move forward. It's fun to see my wife call it because she thinks that calling it makes it come to her but in reality, she is stimulating food senses and it comes to her because it thinks there is food in front of it.

EDIT 2:

Here's another article about this:

http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/11/the-robotic-worm.html

[stevebowers]

I think the connectome of this worm was probably uploaded in a more destructive fashion than I would prefer, if it were me.

[Dalex]

I think the connectome of this worm was probably uploaded in a more destructive fashion than I would prefer, if it were me.

Yeah... On the other hand the worm in question is first real upload so...

[chris0033547]

Since it's the first real upload ... do you think this event is significant enough to be mentioned in this article:

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b2afc424975

so instead of this

43 - Paralysed woman completes marathon using powered bodysuit

46 - New Horizons probe reaches Pluto

we write this:

43 - Paralysed woman completes marathon using powered bodysuit

45 - The simulation of the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by a group of researchers around Timothy Busbice marks the first successful case of partial destructive uploading of an organic life form.

46 - New Horizons probe reaches Pluto

I think, the word "partial" is needed here, because of this sentence from the singularityhub-article:

the simulation isn’t perfect, and the robot doesn’t have every sensory input the real worm might have

[stevebowers]

Hopefully we'll see a progression of similar simulations/emulations in the next few years.

[Rynn]

Short on time but how is this an upload? Did they use one specific worm and copy its connectome perfectly. Or did they, through studying the connectome of multiple worms, emulate a generic one? Also whilst not necessary I think it would be useful if for things like this the OP could do some digging and find a link to the published scientific paper. News and opinion reports are fine but many people would rather go straight to the source.

[chris0033547]

Short on time but how is this an upload? Did they use one specific worm and copy its connectome perfectly. Or did they, through studying the connectome of multiple worms, emulate a generic one?

I think, I was too quick in judging this to be the first upload. Instead it's basically a virtual worm:

All [..] are based upon [..] embodied originals.

Although it's certainly not an emulation of such a worm but a simulation. Here's the link to the paper:

http://www.academia.edu/7841548/Extendin...o_Robotics

All of this is part of the OpenWorm-project:

http://docs.openworm.org/en/latest/model...nvironment

For example in chapter 3.3 of the paper under the academia-link he writes:

I realized the only way to simulate this wide ranging neuron in my simple, one sensor model was to increase the synaptic weight. I changed these neuronal weights to 20 and harsh body touch became much more relevant. [..] I'm not pleased by its simplicity and I feel the model is pulling away from a true simulation and more into the realm of model creation that forces the behavior rather than a more biological representation.

So it's definitely a partial simulation - not an emulation - of a generic worm. To quote from the following paper:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20335372

worms have been shown to habituate to mechanical and chemical stimuli, as well as learn the smells, tastes, temperatures, and oxygen levels that predict aversive chemicals or the presence or absence of food.

And that means that each worm is an individual. But the way, I understand it, Busbice didn't reproduce the synaptic weights of a specific worm. He created a virtual worm instead. I also found the following discussion:

http://www.jefftk.com/p/we-havent-uploaded-worms

So it's certainly not an upload but the question is: Is this virtual worm an individual or not? I think that in the end this question is not really important for us, because e's still a virtual life form. I don't think there is a requirement in OA that a virtual must be an individual. For example is a Notee an individual? :

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47f4311eaef31

Whether a Notee is an individual or not is not that important. What is important is that a Notee is still a virtual (and sometimes a biont). So how about this EG entry:

45 - The partial simulation of the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by a group of researchers around Timothy Busbice marks the first successful creation of a virtual based upon an organic life form.

[giulio]

This project is a very important pathfinder, but calling it "uploading" is overhype. The project didn't create a functional copy of one specific original worm, but a generic new worm. The starting worm connectome database was obtained by many previous studies on lots of worms (and, as Steve said, by using destructive processes). The equivalent process for humans has been described by Greg Egan in Zendegi. From my review:
http://hplusmagazine.com/2011/01/31/book...greg-egan/

"Nasim realizes that her old colleagues at the Human Connectome Project have achieved important advances and released a large database of high resolution brain scans of thousands of volunteers. The data are not sufficiently detailed and personalized for individual mind uploading, but they can be used to build accurate generic models of human minds (the models that we use to call “mindware” or “me-program” in uploading discussion groups)."

So this is not uploading but a preliminary stem to what Zendegi calls "sideloading" later in the novel:

"The uploading technology used, more appropriately called “sideloading”, consists of tweaking and fine-tuning a generic mindware “me-program” obtained by the Human Connectome Project, with long and involved training sessions, until it behaves like a specific person."

That said, all first steps are small steps, and this is a small first step toward something big.

[stevebowers]

Sideloading - wonderful term. Hopefully we'll be doing a lot more of this in the future.

[giulio]

Sideloading - wonderful term. Hopefully we'll be doing a lot more of this in the future.

Some experts consider sideloading as one of the more realistic paths toward uploading.