[Tyler]

The scientist planning to upload his brain to a COMPUTER
19 December 2014, 12:00 am

It is a plan taken straight from the pages of a science fiction novel - and potentially a way to exist forever. A San Francisco inventor has revealed plans for a system to upload his brain to a computer. Daily Mail - Sciencetech (UK)Link.

Source: AI in the News

To visit any links mentioned please view the original article, the link is at the top of this post.

[Art]

Yes and it pretty much belongs in Sci-Fi. Bodyless brains inhabiting some remote v-world, bumping into each other mindlessly chatting about nothing of import.
There is no sensory perception in an uploaded mind. The Real You wouldn't know anything from the Uploaded You. Perhaps one lifetime is enough for each of us.

[Freddy]

I didn't know what to say about this. On the one hand, in the future, once they make virtual worlds indistinguishable from the real one it might be something like the Matrix.

On the other hand, supposing the machines haven't yet turned on us, it might be fun to be inside an MMORPG or something.

This guy makes it all sound so simple though.

[DemonRaven]

I don't think that it would be any thing more then a twin. A twin or clone may be like you in many ways but it is still not you and your memories can not interact.

[Don Patrick]

We organise workshops and conferences where interested parties can exchange ideas, network with others, and keep updated on the latest developments in the field'

I don't actually see any substantial technical information on the technology they intend to use, apart from a fancy name for it. Not only does this AI tech not exist in our foreseeable future, but we would also need a brain scanner that could record all neuronic connections and synapses, dodats and whatnots of a brain in order to copy its entire contents. Last time I looked, MRI scanners could only record "activity" in "areas". So I'm not sure I would call all this a "plan".

I have no objections to fantasizing about it though.

[Freddy]

I think it's pure fantasy, which is why I said he makes it sound so simple. I've seen nothing to indicate this is even remotely possible yet either.

[DemonRaven]

actually it would not be that hard at a basic level. If you hooked up a computer to record your brain scans and electric impulses when thinking about certain things then translated that to words and perhaps a visual then on  a rudimentary level you would some copying of what your brain does aka thinks. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2814896/The-mindreading-machine-listen-voices-head-let-paralysed-speak-again.html

[Art]

But to imply that you (one's personage) would live on forever is quite a misnomer. You will, like all living things, die.
Your Uploaded self, might continue to thrive in whatever environment it is either chosen or available to inhabit.
Inside this environment, there is no feeling, no sensory experience for this replicant that once resembled you.
Merely a character / avatar in a digital game of life. This is not life nor an extension of life. It is an illusion.
The cake is a lie.

[Korrelan]

I love stuff like this…  I agree with Art

I believe creating a human/ greater level intelligence from scratch is possible. 

We are currently bio-chemical/ electrical machines.  Our bodies are the simulator/ sensor.  Our consciousness resides in a simulation of the outside world we generate in our heads.  The only window into this world is our senses.  These can be easily fooled; a rich sensory environment could be designed for an AGI to occupy.

However…

Capturing the essence of a living human and simulating all the nuances and facets of that person’s consciousness… not so much!  The scan would have to capture the exact structure, exact amounts of neuro transmitters at each synapse, exact location of each spike along its axon, and the whole body would need scanning because we have learned to experience the world through our own individual unique senses … were talking a molecular level of detail, and all at the same millisecond. Nah! 

[Freddy]

Capturing the essence of a living human...

I think you hit the nail on the head. Whether we could be concious of ourselves in the same way as being alive - that's hard to imagine. We had this question before, what happens in that grey area when you make the transition - when there's two of you.

What seems more attainable is keeping the mind alive as long as possible. Kinda like the floaty heads in Futurama 

[Art]

Yeah but with our luck we would have an encounter with a clumsy, cigar smoking, mind numbing robot named Bender, who's sole purpose would be to screw with our heads...in more ways than one!!! 

[ranch vermin]

Something that is more realistic, is cloning yourself into a more attainable working ai,  I bet itll be alot like you if it was constructed and 'matched' well.   but its not alive, or conscious, its just a machine acting like it is.

So its not eternal life,  its just a machine replicant.   like out of a sci fi movie.

[Korrelan]

Perhaps some kind of phased transition would be less traumatic.  We could use the plasticity of the brain to gradually move from one state to the other, getting used to each stage; and incorporating it into our consciousness over a long period of time.  Much like an amputee re-learns sensory input from one of the modern prosthesis.

The brain is still the main stumbling block though… it would have to be replaced very slowly by the artificial medium, and said medium would have to adapt and work seamlessly with the rest of the biological systems during this slow transition stage.  Perhaps if each stage was given time to learn and mimic the biological segment it would be replacing before the actual switch over.

Remember when you where a kid and you fell over and grazed your knee for the first time… That experience/ memory and a million more like it… have helped shape the consciousness you are today… this would all have to be reproduced/ captured in its exquisite detail.

Still Nah!