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In the near future you will discard your body -- you will literally throw it in the trash -- because you will neither want it nor need it. You will discard your biological body gladly, like you would discard an old pair of shoes today. You will be quite grateful to be rid of it.
- Marshall Brain
Within the next 50 years of so, give or take a decade, humans will begin discarding their bodies as quickly as humanly possible. In the 2050 timeframe, a human body will be as passé as the horse and buggy is to us today.
The concepts behind the terms neural prosthetics, whole brain emulation and mind uploading are related, and in that order their objectives are of increasing complexity. A neural prosthetic is a replacement for or augmentation of a function or component of the nervous system in general, and of the human brain in particular. Currently, a number of neural prosthetics exist that replace or improve specific functions that are most commonly sensory functions. Examples are cochlear and retinal implants, but also implanted electrodes that inhibit seizures and research toward the development of a prosthetic hippocampus. A neural prosthetic can be implemented as a hardware component, as software in a general computing environment or as a mixture of both. Independent hardware components are ideal for medical purposes, while other forms are useful in neuroscientific research. In the long term, neural prosthetics that encompass all functions and components of the human brain may enable the emulation of complete human brain function on a different, possibly non-biological substrate. That condition is described by the term whole brain emulation. Emulation strives to equal the original function of an individual brain, while simulations in neuroscience research are attempts to create a constrained set of similar effects. The transition of the functions and components of a specific human brain to whole brain emulation in another substrate is described as mind uploading. The term uploading, commonly used in information science, implies an operation similar to the transfer of information from one computing system to another.
- Randal A. Koene
When it comes right down to it, having a physical body in a reality constrained by the limitations of the physical laws has many drawbacks. Our bodies are extremely fragile and can be damaged or killed in an instant if we are not careful, or are just plain unlucky. If anything goes wrong with a critical body part, the entire body could die. Our physical bodies are also deteriorated by aging. Either way, for now, if your body dies, your brain dies right along with it. Every human brain contains an immense wealth of information, memories, experiences and relationships. Every time a human brain dies, that incredible, unique wealth of knowledge dies with it, and is forever lost. The world is a dangerous place to inhabit in a fragile human body, and there are a lot of other problems that come with having a physical presence in a physical world. Using the bathroom, body odor, difficulty traveling, limitation of possibilities, just to name a few. Up to this point, we have had no alternative to life, besides death. Due to nanotechnology, there may come a time when people will actually have a choice between life in the "real world," an existence inside a computer generated simulation, or death.
Mind uploading, if it turns out to be possible at all, will likely first happen in the 2040s, depending on the level of detail that is required to capture all essential information in the neuronal structure of an organic brain. Substantial computer processing power and digital information storage would be required to digitalize and run a functional analog of the brain's ~100 billion neurons. Religious and philosophical issues such as the existence of a soul and the nature of "self" will ultimately determine if any level of technological prowess will ever enable a biological consciousness to be transferred to an artificial substrate.
Once uploaded, a mind would achieve immortality, existing as pure information, disassociated from the biological body and brain. The upload would be considered a form of artificial intelligence, sometimes referred to as an "infomorph" or "noomorph." A digital mind could theoretically be backed up, copied, or restarted at various set points, raising interesting questions regarding individuality and identity.
Given a choice between being in your virtual body and your real body, you will choose your virtual body every time. Therefore, your biological body will become irrelevant. At the same time, technology will be advancing. A variety of research efforts will be creating the ability to house your brain – just your brain – in a small container that will keep it in perfect environmental conditions. A number of companies will be advertising Brain Storage Facilities, where your brain and thousands of others are stored in hardened steel and concrete buildings that are impervious to bombs, earthquakes, hurricanes and so on.
Originally posted by Clairaudience
reply to post by JudgedCover
The funny thing is, if they succeed with the creation of artificial realities that feel, look, smell, taste and sound just like our own with no observable differences other than those that are intended, it would be an endless loop of realities within realities. And maybe artificial realities coupled with A.I. or self-aware software, as-well as uploaded minds, would give rise to new universes just as real and complex as our own. Key questions are, is our own reality the product of intelligent design? Could artificial realities compete with "the real deal"?
Michael LaTorra & James Hughes lead a group discussion at Convergence 08. Digital (or data) serfdom currently exists -- and is growing -- among high-tech workers. In a future of mind-uploading, the situation could worsen into a dystopian horror. The bright alternative to this vision of servitude in dark digital mills is life as an enhanced, empowered, free individual, the Cyborg Buddha, who enjoys both technological abundance and the time to enjoy it in contemplative bliss.