Approaching Immortal Consciousness And The Singularity...Growing Closer!

Hello fellow ATSers. So, as some of you may agree, our species may be on the cusp of two major, life-changing technological breakthroughs; those being, the Technological Singularity and the ability to upload our consciousness into a virtual reality when our bodies can no longer survive, therefore cheating death, in a sense.

Now, I'm not going to bore you with explanations of each, especially since most of you know what I am referring to; but for those whom may not know, or those whom may just want a refresher, here you go:

The technological singularity is the theoretical emergence of superintelligence through technological means.[1] Since the capabilities of such intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the technological singularity is seen as an occurrence beyond which events cannot be predicted.

Proponents of the singularity typically state that an "intelligence explosion",[2][3] where superintelligences design successive generations of increasingly powerful minds, might occur very quickly and might not stop until the agent's cognitive abilities greatly surpass that of any human.

Full article: en.wikipedia.org...

Whole brain emulation or mind uploading (sometimes called mind transfer) is the hypothetical process of transferring or copying a conscious mind from a brain to a non-biological substrate by scanning and mapping a biological brain in detail and copying its state into a computer system or another computational device. The computer would have to run a simulation model so faithful to the original that it would behave in essentially the same way as the original brain, or for all practical purposes, indistinguishably.[1] The simulated mind is assumed to be part of a virtual reality simulated world, supported by an anatomic 3D body simulation model. Alternatively, the simulated mind could be assumed to reside in a computer inside (or connected to) a humanoid robot or a biological body, replacing its brain.

Full Article: en.wikipedia.org...

Ok, now for the main reason we're here: I know that both of the aforementioned concepts are only theoretical, and also very controversial, however, I'm not here to discuss morality; I'm here to discuss politics. I've learned today that both Europe and the United States are developing immense projects concerning the human brain. In fact, Europe has already approved funding for their project, which is focusing on simulating the brain, while Obama is backing a project focused on mapping the brain, similar in exhaustive detail to the Human Genome Project.

President Obama is planning to back an exhaustive study of the human brain that could help researchers gain insight into everything from Alzheimer’s to mental illness to artificial intelligence, the New York Times reports:

The Obama administration is planning a decade-long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain and build a comprehensive map of its activity, seeking to do for the brain what the Human Genome Project did for genetics.

The Brain Activity Map project could be unveiled as soon as March and is expected to cost billions of dollars, the Times says.

It differs significantly from the Human Brain Project, the $1.3 billion brain research project Europe unveiled recently. The European project involves simulating the human brain; the Obama proposal focuses on mapping brain activity.

Full Article: www.popsci.com...

www.popsci.com...


Unlocking the secrets of the brain, especially the secret of consciousness, is one of science's final frontiers. With these two major research projects, in conjunction with what's already going on in the fields right now, we quite possibly could witness the kind of scientific and technological breakthroughs that have, for the most part, only manifested in science-fiction.

I don't know about you, but the thought of witnessing true artificial intelligence just amazes me, think of the possibilities, the evolutionary leaps and bounds that our own species would be able to make! Think of the technology that we could create, the places we could go! Imagine being able upload your consciousness into a reality simulator, and not even know the difference! To live on after your body dies, or maybe just experience that reality while making a 5,000 year trip to a neighboring star system, or galaxy!

I'm sure not everyone shares in my excitement, but even if you find a future peace awaiting you in death, just take a moment and use your imagination, like when you were young. Imagine the possibilities. I'm glad that world governments are investing in the brain, and though Alzheimer's is a noble cause, it does seem like creating an AI is definitely up there! I just hope I'm around to see it.

Peace

Unless of course the spirit and soul do exist and are trapped in the technology.

reply to post by apokalupsis33vital


I've done some looking into this topic over the past year or so as well. I think it's pretty damn cool too.

I think the creation of an actual AI is still about 20 years away though. But immortality I believe, will be achieved by people alive today.
Humans under the age of 40 can reasonably expect to live to be 200 - 300 years old. By that time, it stands to reason we should be able to live forever, whether it's in our physical bodies or artificial ones?...we will just have to wait and see. Maybe both.

What I was concerned with, was how much information can the human brain hold before things start going kablooey.
Think about it. Everything you have ever learned, seen, or heard is still in your brain. Most of it is not very important so your subconscious keeps it filed away for later and uses it to fill in blanks. But it is all in there somewhere.
I believe someone is going to find out the hard way. Will the brain start to discard useless stuff? Childhood memories first? Will it just go into vapor lock?

I don't doubt we will be able to expand our memory, or remove and store unnecessary stuff at some point. But before that happens, someone is going to reach the threshold. I'm interested to see what happens.

Or maybe we will discover that the human brain is essentially endless.

..... *blank*

Unlocking the secrets of the brain, especially the secret of consciousness,

reply to post by apokalupsis33vital


When considering the upload of someone's mind I think the big secret is not of consciousness but of emotions. Without uploading emotions we would be a mindless, unfeeling program.

reply to post by watchitburn


Yeah, I agree with the 20 to 30 year estimate. I have read "The Singularity is Near" by Ray Kurzweil, and he predicted we'd see an AI by 2030!

reply to post by Spacespider


Yeah... my bad!

We need computer chips in our heads and a borg so when we die we just respawn in another cloned body. Cloud consciousness.

Originally posted by jiggerj

Unlocking the secrets of the brain, especially the secret of consciousness,

reply to post by apokalupsis33vital

 

When considering the upload of someone's mind I think the big secret is not of consciousness but of emotions. Without uploading emotions we would be a mindless, unfeeling program.

Very true indeed, which is why mapping and simulating the brain are going to be also important within the next decade and beyond. We may be able to artificially recreate the same neurological processes that facilitate emotions in our brains right now. It's just exciting to think that such bold steps, and concise time frames, are being established by governments, of all entities! Lol

Originally posted by libertytoall
We need computer chips in our heads and a borg so when we die we just respawn in another cloned body. Cloud consciousness.

edit on 18-2-2013 by libertytoall because: (no reason given)

You know that's funny, but also not far from a real possibility. One aspect of merging our biology with technology is the eventuality that we may be able to access all information that is available everywhere, instantaneously, while also being able to communicate with anyone as easily and quickly as well. We are already on our way to that point: I can access all information available online within seconds from my phone, contact people who's info I have, etc. It's getting there.

FOR SOME REASON THIS BRAIN MAPPING PROJECT SEEMS OLD HAT.....
HASNT LOTS OF THIS BEEN DONE BY MK ULTRA ETC?
THE GOD HELMET THING,ETC ETC FOR EARS NOW...
WHATS LEFT TO MAP?

Originally posted by stirling
FOR SOME REASON THIS BRAIN MAPPING PROJECT SEEMS OLD HAT.....
HASNT LOTS OF THIS BEEN DONE BY MK ULTRA ETC?
THE GOD HELMET THING,ETC ETC FOR EARS NOW...
WHATS LEFT TO MAP?

Not quote sure, stirling, but I thought members ought to know that our government is going to throw A LOT of money at it!

Unfortunatly this plan which is also the ultimate inslavement plan will succed and it's alot older then you would normaly think.Now in order to understand that it is evil and not good in any form for the human race you have to take a look at what is happening on the planet and when you have a full picture then do a really good thought about that picture in relation with you.Let's take for example the dieing in a massive number of the bees.Who benefits the most from that than the plants and what does that have to do with us.Now take in consideration the cuting down of the trees and than add some chemtrails.You can cut down the trees but nature eventualy comes back so how can you eliminate plants efectevly without them respawning like crazy everywhere.The plant's need those bees to replicate so you create some genetically engenired ones to destroy the bees than if that is not enough you drop some poison from the planes to slowly finish them off.The connection between us and the plants is the air that we take from them.They seem to want realy bad to do that.I think there are 2 maybe more reasons for that and those are the air and the healing of deseases that we can benefit from.I only scratched the surface there so i don't know much or maybe at all but the deep connection there has to do in my opinion with the function of brain and it's adaptation to the environment.I made some other connection there but they are forced so i won't continue and go back in explaining why i think this plan is actually evil and seems only on the surface to be the advancement of humanity.We have been bombared our subconscious with all kinds of preparness for this plan(repetitive music,movies,advertisement etc.) so that we slowly close our awereness of the outside world and colapse it in an inner one that will eventually be fully closed one when it will be the right time.The push for the deeper and deeper connectivity between us and artificial computing will be the end of whats left of our free will.The lifespan doesn't seem to expand but shorten when you add the chemical crap we put in the gut everyday so that we don't live long enough to put the important questions or be smart enough to even understand why we should do that in the first place or if your not affected or care to much take some internet dependency.
Sorry for my cheyniss writing

My opinion is we are already in the process of changing the base focus and the way of thinking to this new envoiernment.

Even though we are some years from this level of digital formation, I wonder of the ones that will be digitized, they will be the very wealthy and materialistic greedy people who designed the failures of today. High level politicians, elite self centered nutcases like Soros, This could be a bad outcome. Also, in a digital enviornment, certain human attributes will be controlled or removed altogether, therefore, not a real free thinking AI, but a controlled intelligence that would be for some elite's game, amusement or gains. I do not see this being evolvement of the best intentions. The thought of a digital Obama or Biden scares the hell out of me...

Or the singularity could emerge at a perfect point when the artificially created deseases or natural ones but spread by those who should do the oposite or wars would reach a very high point where most people would want to subside to a virtual reality to escape the horrific reality.It could also be possible that we won't even have a choice and nanobots will decide for us in a long and slow process

The singularity could cause the bigest war that was ever manufactured between the haves[those with fancy houses and cars(in their heads aka digital lives)] and the have nots(those that cannot ''afford'' the luxury in or outside the singularity) based only on ''gelosy''.

Considering that every occult religion believes that matter is evil and that they must overcome it to achieve spiritual immortality, how can people think that our science foundations and these studies, owned and funded by those very believers, can give us anything but lies?

Ther briefs summed up are:
The Buddhist says : Man, annihilate thyself.
The Brahman says : Man, merge thyself in the universal sum of all

The Hebrew word used for 'imagination' YETSER is more than just a mental picture. It means to form or fashion and is used of God's creation of man and of the earth. When God condemned the imagination of pre-flood mankind and the builders of Babel, His condemnation was not solely of their minds but possibly of their creative visualisation. That tower was man striving to reach the Heavens by bypassing their Creator. Exactly what we see today happening before our very eyes. And it will never happen.

You just have to look at the world around you that created the singularity concept in the first place and see this cannot be of any good

There is no need to add the zombie apocalips precursor to the borg one possibility but it is good to add the Sun in.One of the possible ways to give the human race some time would be a big electro magnetical flair .The observation of the sun has been really extenssive for some time .