ShorthandedMon, Feb 9, 2009 I agree with Dave. As excited I am about the possibilities that mind-upload present, I am concerned.
Socially I am concerned on two counts. First, as presented this seems like a purely escapist exercise. Uploading one's brain doesn't make the physical world go away. Second, as a corollary to the first, there will need to be caretakers left behind who can't upload and are charged with caring for those that do.
Philosophically I resist the dualist assumption that the mind is somehow separate from and superior to the body.
Scientifically I resist simulation as an adequate fate for a brain because whenever something is simulated it loses data. True lossless simulation is all but impossible on several counts.
If I read LED's post correctly it is the idea of being able to take a meta-position to the brain in relation to its functions that provides one of the more tantalising features of mind uploading.
Referring to Anissimov's statement:
With uploading, we will be able to see exactly which neural features (”happiness centers”) correspond to high happiness set points and which don’t, by combining prior knowledge with direct experimentation and investigation. This will make it possible for people to reprogram their own brains to raise their happiness set points in a way that biotechnological intervention might find difficult or dangerous.
I would like to suggest that there are ways to manipulate the machine code of the brain without the aid of computers or chemicals. I recommend the following authors as a starting point in no particular order:
Wilhelm Reich
Timothy Leary
Robert Anton Wilson
George Orwell
Richard Bandler
Milton Ericson
William S Burroughs
Aldous Huxley
I agree with Dave. As excited I am about the possibilities that mind-upload present, I am concerned.
Socially I am concerned on two counts. First, as presented this seems like a purely escapist exercise. Uploading one's brain doesn't make the physical world go away. Second, as a corollary to the first, there will need to be caretakers left behind who can't upload and are charged with caring for those that do.
Philosophically I resist the dualist assumption that the mind is somehow separate from and superior to the body.
Scientifically I resist simulation as an adequate fate for a brain because whenever something is simulated it loses data. True lossless simulation is all but impossible on several counts.
If I read LED's post correctly it is the idea of being able to take a meta-position to the brain in relation to its functions that provides one of the more tantalising features of mind uploading.
Referring to Anissimov's statement:
I would like to suggest that there are ways to manipulate the machine code of the brain without the aid of computers or chemicals. I recommend the following authors as a starting point in no particular order:
Wilhelm Reich
Timothy Leary
Robert Anton Wilson
George Orwell
Richard Bandler
Milton Ericson
William S Burroughs
Aldous Huxley
This is, of course, just a short list.