This Is How We Will Upload Our Brains
Over the years I have read a number of stories and watched movies about how we will be able to upload our brains into computers but I have a couple of problems with that. I will go through these problems first and then I will outline another idea that might be able to achieve this goal.
First, computers cannot think despite what the popular press and movies and TV shows tell us. Well, at least with their current architecture and I wrote a post about this a few weeks ago (Computers Cannot Think (Yet)).
Second, the way the upload process is usually described seems to me like it will only be a copy of the brain and will not be the person itself. The person is simply not being transferred.
When the original brain dies that person will be gone and the uploaded entity will only be someone else with the same memories as the deceased person. This uploaded entity will be tricked into believing that it is the same person. In fact, it would know this and might even feel like an imposter.
I like to think that there is another way of doing this and it lies more along the lines of integrating the brain with the new artificial neural architecture.
Note that I don't use the word computer here because for this to work a whole new architecture will need to be developed. One that is more like a neural net and less like the mechanical and deterministic computer circuits that we use today.
First, imagine the character Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy. The canon of the story is that the attachment on his head is used to control a levitating arrow that kills his enemies.
Instead I like to imagine that it is the 3rd "half" of his brain.
We humans have brains that are split into two, the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. These two hemispheres are connected to each other by the corpus callosum, a network of 200-250 million fibers that apparently help the two halves communicate.
What if, when humans finally develop an artificial neural network that we attach it to the crown of our heads and route hundreds of millions of connections down into the corpus callosum between the two brain halves. This would give us the 3rd "half" of our brains.
At first it would feel weird having this new mind region but over the course of the next weeks and months and years it would be steadily integrated into both your mind and personality.
If this new artificial brain had more capabilities like a much higher IQ and perfect memory then it would eventually become the dominant part of your mind. In the first year it might make up 5% of your mind's content with 95% still being in the organic brain.
In year ten it might encompass 95% of your mind's content and the organic parts would only be 5% of your mind.
Closing Words
When the day eventually comes and the human host dies the artificial brain would still be able to carry on. If the integration was successful it would have integrated most, if not all, of the memories that were in the old brain and the feeling of loss would be minimal.
The still functioning artificial brain would not be an imposter, it would be you.
The only trick then is getting this artificial brain into a new body (but that is a topic for another post).
Thank you for reading my post.
Post Sources
[1] Artificial brain.
[2] Cerebral hemisphere
[3] Corpus callosum
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I like your comment. I think, being natural brings happiness. When I go for a walk, I prefer not to use internet. On the one hand, technology made our lives easy, but on the other hand, we also feel depressed sometimes because of using internet too much. Same will be the case if we are 'computerized'. Nature has it's own beauty.
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I look forward to this service that you provide. It keeps me on my toes and stops me from getting lazy.
What if China starts upgrading their population. The rest of the world will have to follow suit just to keep up or we will all be their servants.
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That’s a cool and scary thought on human thoughts. And the afterlife of the immortal brain without the human aspect of it. Essentially the person dies but the contents of their brain lives on. It seems to not “solve” the issue or provide the much sought after life after death. But it seems to be heading in the right direction. I’m not really qualified to speak on this topic but I’d say if you can salvage a healthy brain and put it into a new body maybe that would work ( without a lot of tweaking and research and stuff beforehand and to go along with the process).
I kind of agree with you here, my argument is not 100% airtight but I think that it is at least better than the "upload your brain" bullshit that movies and sci-fi tend to promote.
"In fact, it would know this and might even feel like an imposter." - True
Your idea is actually good and I give you credit, I didn't think a lot about it.
I can't help but think of the idiocies that companies will make, the different mind slots and ports which are not compatible and so on :)
You must be able to migrate the third hemisphere to a newer technology easily or keep it in the cloud. Losing the internet connection will be a truly bad experience then =) as it will give a new meaning to being "lost".
Anyway it seems plausible and I would have no problem wearing that, if it will be affordable and risk free. I wouldn't like for it to run Microsoft Windows, that's for sure and to have it BSOD once in a while!
Ah, a lot to ponder about!
Great time to be alive though.
Thx for the comment. I think if the third hemisphere gave you a higher IQ and a better memory while the attraction would be very tempting.
I like the BSOD joke, I should have said that the new brain will run on Linux.
YES! But not Android, since you won't be able to close stuff from your memory :D
That’s some pretty serious food for thought, no pun intended. I’ve never really considered an implementation like that. Thanks it was a good read.
Thx for the nice comment and welcome to Steemit.