Immortality within grasp?

observer.guardian.co.uk...

'If you draw the timelines, realistically by 2050 we would expect to be able to download your mind into a machine, so when you die it's not a major career problem,'

Very interesting concept. If technology keeps going at its current pace do you think this could be possible?

Very interesting article. Thanks for drawing it to our attention. I'm especially intrigued by the "simplicity" movement, as the complexity of current technology - or I should say "technologies" is a real problem. Think of the number of devices we each use, and a different protocol for each (although I grant there is some overlap).

Quite intriguing, I've been wondering when a relevant time line for mind dowloads would pop up.
With the abilitie to transfer a mind digitaly opens up many new possibilities.

Downloading someones personality into a machine could be awesome. Still, what happens when theres a sudden power outage?

Love and light,

Wupy

what happens when theres a sudden power outage?

Either one of two things, there minds are stored as data, when you turn off your computer, all the data is'nt lost.
Or, they have access to a hyper fast Internet connection, and could just go into the internet, or download into another computer.

Reminds me of that movie Lawnmower man.

But I'm wondering if you upload your mind into a computer would it be aware? Is our conscience or awareness tied to our soul? Is the mind and soul seperate entities?

It does bring up a lot of questions.

Bah, downloading is the wrong word. All it's describing is a way to copy your persona onto a computer chip. So yes in a way you would be immortal, but no you wouldn't exist inside a computer(your copy would though)

Now Eternal Youth is another story. We are VERY close to cracking that puzzle, some things to watch out for:

Telomere Regrowth
Cybernetic Replacement Parts
Tissue and Organs cloned from your own cells

Fascinating but it is actually a re-hash. About a year or 2 ago this was on discovery.
The main problem I see in reaching this point is that we are no where close to the information storage capacity that would be required to perform such an operation. Unless you want to be stored in a building size storage unit.
At present we are closely reach the physical limitations of solid state which is what we are presntly using. Fairly quickly you will see a drastic drop off on the speed and storage capability increases. The increases will be nothing in comparison to what we to what we have enjoyed the past few years. Unless we are able to perfect new alternative technologies, then this Downloading of a person into a machine will be much further off in the future than what they are predicting here in the article.

At present we are closely reach the physical limitations of solid state which is what we are presntly using.

No actually we are reaching the limitations of Silicon Chips, not Solid State in its entirety. Diamond based substrates will likely take over due to it's heat conducting properties, Spintronics will take over Magnetic storage, and Optronics will rule the days until we reach the true limits imposed by the laws of physics.(eg The Quantum Computer)

[edit on 23-5-2005 by sardion2000]

Thanx for the correction. That is what I meant.
Actualy was looking for some links to back that up and the new tech that s being explored

But I'm wondering if you upload your mind into a computer would it be aware? Is our conscience or awareness tied to our soul? Is the mind and soul seperate entities?

Well, that starts upon another question, does the soul exist.
In my opinion it doesnt.

Also, I dont see how it would make the computer sentient.

Bah, downloading is the wrong word. All it's describing is a way to copy your persona onto a computer chip. So yes in a way you would be immortal, but no you wouldn't exist inside a computer(your copy would though)

Well, yes it could be considered a copy, if you still were in your body as well, but if you were to transfer your consciousness into it, it wouldnt be a copy.

Heh, I doubt transferance will ever be possible through a fiber link, it would have to be a complete transplantation of your brain into an Artificial "Body" allthough "Body" in this case could be a huge supercomputer or some such *shrug* or it come be something completely different that we havn't thought of yet. I personally believe that the only way a transferance would be possible is if we confirm the existance of a soul, and as time goes on it's looking increasingly unlikely...


Here you go kenshiro

www.abovetopsecret.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

www.qubit.org...

ucsu.colorado.edu...

Hope that helps.

[edit on 23-5-2005 by sardion2000]

Also, I dont see how it would make the computer sentient.

If your mind is what makes you sentient, by copying it to a computer wouldnt that computer become sentient or aware?

Which would bring us back to the question of soul and mind being seperate and soul is what makes us sentient, and our mind is just our storage.

But it even if it was just a copy, that would be something rather awesome. Imagine having a future "library" available of minds and the amount of experiences and wisdom available at your fingertips.

Here are a couple links on the topic of storing the mind in a machine. Referred to as "Soul Catchers". Really interesting articles.

www.cs.man.ac.uk...
written in 1996

www.j-cg.co.uk...

Maybe you can download your mind to a memory chip, but would that make us immortal. It would just be data.

'If you draw the timelines, realistically by 2050 we would expect to be able to download your mind into a machine, so when you die it's not a major career problem,'

Not a major career problem? Not a Problem for me or not a problem for my company?

Who would have access to the downloaded data?

An interesting use would be downloading data frequently from the mind and reformatting the mind

If your mind is what makes you sentient, by copying it to a computer wouldnt that computer become sentient or aware?

Not really, it would just mean that you were hi-jacking, as it were, the body of a non-sentient machine.

Originally posted by Quake
An interesting use would be downloading data frequently from the mind and reformatting the mind

Maybe a nice cure for Alzheimer's or amnesia?

A complete copy of your mind, ready to go incase of future problems.

heres a link i found on a scientist that ive contacted who is trying to get funding for research int ogetting rid of aging it has some very interesting pages if your interested

link
www.gen.cam.ac.uk...

This has nothing to do with immortality, it's just copying. even if the technology would be really so advanced that the downloaded mind could be the same personality, able to learn and develop, I would not do it. You will not live, you will die and someone/something will take your place. You can compare it to your twin clone banging your wife - the lady may be satisfied but I'm sure you would not apreciate it.

But it can be usefull to make copies of some extraordinanry minds - such as having a Einstein mind stored in your computer forever could bring many benefits to the mankind.

I would not do it. You will not live, you will die and someone/something will take your place.

Why would you die? We don't have the technology yet so how can you make the assumption that the copying process will kill you? An advanced hypothetical MRI-like device could theoretically record everything in your head(they can already do this to a certain extent, it's just interpreting it is the hard part) and make a replica inside an advanced enough computer. You'd still be you, and the copy in side the computer would be you as well, theoretically speaking of course.

[edit on 24-5-2005 by sardion2000]