If It Were Possible, Would You Upload Your Consciousness Into A Robot?
I don’t know if it is only me or if anybody else is feeling this way too, but I think, we are slowly entering into a more science fiction type of a world. The technologies that are being developed right now, when fully matured, will change everything we do and the entire world.
If you were to travel to just 50 years into the future, I doubt that you would even recognise our own planet. The kind of technologies that will exist only a few decades from now will seem nothing less than exotic and in some cases even magic!
Speaking of exotic technologies, we are aware of the concept of uploading one’s consciousness into a machine, say a robot. It is something that has been a part of novels and movies but scientists say that one day it might actually be possible.
Maybe that is 100 years down the road or even more, who knows, but I like to think about what I would do if that option was given to me. What implications would it have for a human being?
What Would It Mean?
If you do decide to upload your consciousness into a machine, you could virtually live forever. I mean, it is really our consciousness, along with our memories that form our ‘self’. So, if one is able to upload that to a computer, for him, it would mean eternal life.
Also, if there ever is a technology to accomplish this, then there will, in all likelihood, be robots who are very similar to humans. So, if you could ‘be the mind’ of the robots, it would mean that you would stop being a human, and become a conscious robot! And since robots can be repaired or created again and again, you would simply change the hardware versions and continue to live forever.
There is yet another implication. Doing so would essentially mean merging yourself with an artificial intelligence and the internet which means access to any information in seconds. And not only that, you could be omnipresent too.
All these abilities sure sound alluring and it would be a totally new experience for any human being, unlike anything we can have today. But will it be all rainbows and unicorns or is there an other side to it?
A Life Devoid of Purpose
This might just be me but I think that what gives meaning to life is its assured end. Knowing that our time is limited creates a sense of urgency in us and it pushes us to do more, be it for ourselves, our children or the world.
A person or in this case “an entity” with an eternal life would, for all intents and purposes, lose that sense of urgency because ‘it’ will know that there is so much time to do any number of things.
If everyone opted to do this, it would be an end to the human civilisation as we know it. It would create an entirely new artificial species, one of our own making. And if there happens to be a part of the population that doesn’t do it, it creates a very inconvenient division which may lead to ‘war with machines’ kind of scenarios.
Right now, we can’t even comprehend the implications of living as machines. Maybe we would enjoy it for a few months or even a few years, but I doubt that we could keep it up forever. It would be a life devoid of meaning and purpose. Will it be worth it?
Image Credits 1
Fifty years ago, I wrote a post similar to yours. It was the time of TV, the first PC and the Internet less than 30 years ago. The human has not changed. The pencil has become PC, tablet, mobile. The newspaper has become TV and tablet and information is faster. Many manual tasks have been automated. But humans always have feelings of love, of hatred. Humans always make war, corruption and great behavior of generosity.
Technologies change but not human behavior.
That is correct. Human behaviour doesn't change that much. But the world sure does!
"Very Interesting and Scary at the Imaginary Of Never"
Frank
True! :)
i dont think i'd want to live forever lol or however long the robot body would enable me to. nice post! upvoted
Me neither. It would be mundane and meaningless!
Great post :) keep posting like this one, I really liked it. resteemed
Thank you :)
I'm not sure. There are creations and things I'd like to do before I die. If they were not created I would consider it so I could finish them. Yet, I always come up with more ideas... so would I keep going?
If I were the type that actually thought retiring and sitting on a beach drinking, and just soaking in the nature was my thing then I'd likely get bored and I really see no benefit of a robot body.
If I am a creator and I can keep creating things then that body could allow that to continue.
There is also that mystery. Let's face it what anyone tells you happens after we die to our minds is 100% based upon speculation. That is something we will find out when we actually die.
If it is truly oblivion as some people think then a robot body again can be appealing.
If it is something else then by going with the robot body you could be missing the next stage of existence... in reality though you wouldn't be.
Let's face it being able to transfer your mind into a robot assumes that our mind is quantifiable and is stored in a format that can be transferred.
This would be making a digital COPY. That word is important as what that means is that the COPY has your memories and continues, and the original actually dies... or goes onto that next mystery adventure.
In fact what is to stop you from being downloaded into many robot bodies.
What is to stop some narcissistic power hungry nut from creating a robotic army of himself... 1000 George Soros robots coming to a protest near you....
1000 Donald Trump robots plated in gold.
1000 Hillary Clinton robots....
This is another one of those fun and deep topics that we could talk about for a very long time.
The movie Chappie shows this possibility. I think Tron also do so with the identity disc...
There are quite a few movies that have done this. Though they are coming out a lot more often now.
I really like your thoughts. I agree with all of them. This is a topic that has no definite answer and ultimately comes down to the individual. If indeed it happens someday, it will be a much different world.
Hmm..... I'm thinking our postings here in steemit is already sort of uploading our consciousness somewhat.
Yes, but here, it is more in a figurative sense. What I meant was more in a literal sense.
I get you. Just that with this AI talk recently, I cannot help wondering if it can "suck" in our post and infer our consciousness from there.
That would be quite a feat, wouldn't it?
Yes, certainly but not unthinkable. The fact I heard some employers are scrapping prospective employees social media accounts already.
While it is interesting I would very much wonder if I can trust the people who control the service. Someone with the power to upload a human mind into a machine would almost certainly also have the ability to manipulate it. How do you ensure that the consciousness uploaded is the same as the one that is you, and that you have full agency over such a body? There could effectively be some sort of DRM restricting certain actions, or perhaps thought patterns, that your body could do, in some sort of interest of the creator.
And then you will have the issue of obsolescence on a scale that is weird to think about. Imagine being trapped in an inferior body model due to your economic lot in life, and eventually losing the ability to cheaply repair yourself because your parts are no longer in service. Or perhaps, having career coerced upgrades which indenture you to your company...
Technology is always a double edged sword. If ever the technology is realised, I think there would be a LOT of cautious steps in place to address the issues that you have mentioned. After all, it is our consciousness that we are talking about which is perhaps one of the most important aspects of our 'self'.
Thanks for reading :)