In Season 6 of the long-running TV series Friends, one character tells another that by 2030, humans will be able to download their memories and thoughts into computers and live forever as machines. I'm talking about being deaf.
More recently, the hugely popular Black Mirror Season 3 episode “San Junipero” featured a simulated scene in which the dead were “alive” and elderly people “visited” their younger selves at periods of their choosing. The reality was introduced. The 1999-2000 Friends episodes may have sounded like science fiction, but now we're not so sure.
In fact, American computer scientist, futurist, and entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil believes humans will be able to upload their brains to computers by 1945, achieving digital cyberimmortality. Let's step into the world of Ray Kurzweil and delve into how this brain-computer interface works, and whether it works at all.
Building a digital human brain
According to neuroscientist Kenneth Hayworth, it will take at least 50 years for the first successful upload of a human mind, and nearly a century before it becomes commonplace. But believe it or not, scientists are hard at work as we speak, conducting research that may one day make digital eternal life a reality.
Connectomics, the science that unravels the entire wiring diagram of the human brain, is making great strides. Because every brain is different, determining this “connectome” is important for “emulating” and uploading processes, as Hayworth and other scientists dream. The connections, or “synapses,” that make up what neurobiologists believe encode what we call “the mind,” from consciousness and beliefs to every aspect of personality. At the end of life, synapses rapidly collapse. Therefore, a barely dead brain is required to image the connectome.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Technology startup Nectome is already preparing for that, proposing to preserve brains with glutaraldehyde. This caused a euthanasia uproar in popular media, but the point is to have uploaders stand by when people die of natural causes. Even the highly controversial Elon Musk has stated that Neuralink's long-term goal is to explore ways to preserve human consciousness so that it can be downloaded into some new body in the future, whether human or robot. It is something to do.
How does the mind upload process work?
While the digital reconfiguration of the human brain is part of the problem, the other half is how the transition process from “physical mind” to “cyberspace” takes place. Suffice it to say that the basic idea takes into account many assumptions. The first assumption is that we can indeed clone our brains to a healthy extent. Second, we must assume that the “mind”, the abstract part of us that senses, imagines, remembers, and thinks, emerges naturally from the structure of the physical brain.
Is this a lot to do? We think so too. Therefore, current brain emulation research remains at the level of C. elegans and mice, and studies in larger mammals and humans are still a long way off.
There are two commonly proposed ways to achieve digital immortality. One is the “scan and copy” route. This route involves using something like an electron microscope to scan the brain in detail to try to understand how the parts fit together. The second route to neuroprosthetics is more gradual, as it involves replacing different parts of the brain with synthetic components until the entire brain is eventually synthesized. Although most of the components have not yet been invented, practical examples include the FDA-cleared Stentrode implant, a device that helps people with severe paralysis translate their thoughts into actions using computers. You can
Image: Wikimedia Commons
ethical issues
Even if the whole mind-uploading scenario is scientifically possible, what are the ethics of it? This is especially true because ethical issues also relate to using grief technology to memorialize someone. that's right. Brain data is the most intensely personal thing an individual has, so it's natural that handing it over to governments and corporations raises concerns ranging from mental slavery to bankruptcy. Questions also arise regarding mind cloning.
In the worst-case scenario, neural data could be hacked and used for torture and abuse, or exposed to attack by digital viruses. Or, even worse, you may finally decide to die, only to find that there is no way out.
Image: flickr
Of course, there is also the issue of equitable access, as the rich and powerful have the means to acquire this technology first. Furthermore, what if the technology is developed in a less regulated country or by a company with questionable ethical standards?The question of whether to upload your brain to the cloud, even hypothetically? The answer, if it exists at all, is very complex.
Uploading our brains and consciousness to computers and continuing to live on after our inevitable death and physical decay has long been a fantasy of science fiction TV shows, video games, and movies. In fact, many might argue that it might be better the way it is. After all, if we were actually able to reincarnate into machine bodies, that could create a whole new set of “what ifs.”
