Imagine that in the coming decades, there will be great advances in brain scanning technology, and we can observe how each neuron communicates with the others. Then, imagine that we could record all this information, simulating someone's brain on a computer.
That's the concept behind consciousness uploading – we may one day be able to transfer a person from their biological body to a synthetic hardware.
The idea originated in an intellectual movement known as "transhumanism" and was supported by several key proponents, including computer scientist Ray Kurzweil, philosopher Nick Bostrom and neuroscientist Randal Koene.
The core hope of transhumanists is to transcend the human condition through technological advancement. They believe that consciousness uploading allows us to live as long as we want (but not necessarily forever).
It can even allow us to improve ourselves, such as having analog brains that run faster and more efficiently than biological brains. This is the dream of a technological optimist for the future. But does it have substance?
The feasibility of consciousness uploading is based on three core assumptions.
The first is the technical assumption – we will be able to develop consciousness uploading technology in the coming decades.
The second is the artificial thinking hypothesis – that a simulated brain produces a real brain.
The third is the survival hypothesis – that the person created in the process is the real "you". Only then will uploading consciousness become a way for you to survive.
How credible are these claims?
Technical assumptions
Trying to simulate the human brain will be a huge challenge. Our brain is the most complex structure in the known universe.
They house about 86 billion neurons and 85 billion non-neuronal cells, with an estimated 100 trillion neural connections. In comparison, the Milky Way is home to about 200 billion stars.
We've come to the road of creating brain simulationsNow, neuroscientists are drawing 3D wiring diagrams of the brains of simple organisms (called "connectomes").
To date, the most complex integrated connectome we have is the Drosophila larva, which has about 3,000 neurons and 500,000 neural connections. We are expected to map the brains of mice within the next decade.
However, the human brain is 1,000 times more complex than the mouse brain. So will it take us 10,000 years to map the human brain?Probably not. We've seen amazing efficiency gains in projects like the Human Genome Project.
About 20 years ago, it took years and hundreds of millions of dollars to map the first human genome. Today, the fastest labs can do this in a matter of hours at a cost of about $100. As efficiency increases, we may see consciousness uploading technology in the lifetime of our children or grandchildren.
That said, there are other obstacles. Creating a static mind map is only part of the job. To simulate the functioning of the brain, we need to observe the activity of individual neurons. It is unclear whether we will be able to achieve this in the near future.
Artificial thinking assumptions
Simulating your brain produces a consciousness like yours?The answer depends on the connection between our mind and body.
The 17th-century philosopher Rene Descartes believed that the mind and the body were completely different, while most academic philosophers today believe that the mind is ultimately a substance itself. Simply put, your mind is your brain.
However, if a simulated brain is just an analog, then how can it possibly produce a real brain?
Many cognitive scientists believe that it is the complex neural structures of your brain that are responsible for creating your consciousness, rather than the nature of its biological matter (mostly fat and water).
When implemented on a computer, the simulated brain will replicate your brain structure. For each simulated neuron and neural connection, there will be a corresponding computer hardware. The simulation will replicate your brain structure and thus your consciousness.
Today's AI systems provide useful (albeit inconclusive) evidence for a structural approach to thinking. These systems run on artificial neural networks, which replicate some of the structural principles of the brain. They are capable of many tasks that require a lot of cognitive work on our part.
Survival hypothesis
Let's assume that it is possible to simulate the human brain, and that simulation creates a conscious mind. Is the person uploading it really you, or is it just a spirit clone?
This goes back to an old philosophical puzzle: why are you the same person who slept the night before when you wake up in the morning?
Philosophers are broadly divided into two camps on this issue. The biological camp believes that you are the same person in the morning and you are in the evening because they are the same biological organism – connected by a biological life process.
The larger spiritual camp believes that the fact that we have brains determines everything. In the morning you and in the evening you are the same person because they share a common spiritual life. In the morning you will remember what you did in the evening – they have the same beliefs, hopes, character traits, and so on.
So which camp is right?Here's a way to test your own intuition: imagine your brain being transplanted into another person's empty skull. Is the ultimate person with your memories, preferences, and personality you, as the spirit camp thinks?Or are they the ones who donate their bodies, as the biological camp believes?
In other words, do you get a new body, or do they get a new mind?The stakes are high.
If the biology camp is correct, then uploading consciousness won't work, assuming that the whole point of uploading is to leave one's biology behind. If the spiritual camp is correct, there is an opportunity to upload, because the uploaded thoughts can be a true continuation of one's current spiritual life.
Wait, there's a warning
But wait a minute: what happens if the original "creature-you" also survives the upload?Will you become two people with your consciousness and produce two "yous" – one in the biological form (b) and one in the upload form (c).
No, you (a) can't literally ** be two separate people (b≠c) and be the same with both at the same time. At most, only one can be you (a = b or a = c).
It seems most intuitive that after **, your bioform will continue to be the real you (a = b), and what is uploaded is just a mental copy. But it makes it doubtful that you will be able to survive as an uploader even in the event that the "creature you" is destroyed.
Why would destroying the "Creature You" magically elevate your spirit clone to the real you?It seems strange to think that this would happen (although one philosophical view does claim that this may be true).
Is it worth the risk?
Unfortunately, the artificial mind hypothesis and the survival hypothesis do not get the final empirical test – we actually have to upload ourselves to find the answer.
Therefore, uploading always requires a huge leap of faith. Personally, I only take this step when I'm sure my bio hardware won't last too long.
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