Mind transfer

In transhumanism and science fiction, mind transfer (also referred to as mind uploading or mind downloading, depending on one's point of reference), or whole body emulation refers to the hypothetical transfer of a human mind, body, and environment to an artificial substrate.

How might mind transfer be performed?

An extremely crude means of moving (if not exactly 'uploading') consciousness using current technology is the head transplant which has been done on primates. Another such crude means which some researchers think is feasible in the near term is the whole-body transplant which moves only the brain. Since it is not easy to tell whether a body contains its original brain, nor necessarily easy to tell whether a body has the head it was born with, some of the identity questions are identical for these methods and those based on robotics. However, these methods do not involve copying the mind nor moving it into a non-organic medium, such as an electronic computer. Accordingly, they are technically quite different, and subject to normal limits of organic bodies and brains.

Related Topics:
Head transplant - Whole-body transplant - Brain - Robotics

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

True mind uploading remains speculation; the technology to perform such a feat is not currently available, nor is it expected to be for several decades at least.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Serial sectioning

A likely method for mind transfer is serial sectioning, in which the brain tissue and perhaps other parts of the nervous system are frozen, sliced apart or ablated layer by layer, and scanned at high resolution, perhaps with a transmission electron microscope. The scans would then be recombined and uploaded to appropriate emulation hardware (i.e., an artificial brain). This would require MEMS but would not seem to require molecular nanotechnology.

Related Topics:
Transmission electron microscope - MEMS - Molecular nanotechnology

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nanotechnology

A more advanced hypothetical technique that would require nanotechnology might involve infiltrating the intact brain with a network of cell-sized machines to "read" the structure and activity of the brain in situ, much like current-day electrode meshes but on a much finer and more sophisticated scale. This might even allow for the replacement of living neurons with artificial neurons one by one while the subject is still conscious, providing a smooth transition from an organic to synthetic brain - potentially significant for those who worry about the loss of personal continuity that other uploading processes may entail.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brain imaging

It may also be possible to use advanced brain imaging technology to build a detailed three-dimensional model of the brain using non-invasive methods. This possibility, however, could run into physical limitations concerning the resolution that can be achieved. Very high resolution brain imaging (down to the nanometer) is currently available, but it would require destroying the brain by means of a serial sectioning scan as described above.

Related Topics:
Brain imaging - Nanometer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Recreating

It has also been suggested (for example, in Greg Egan's "jewelhead" stories) that a detailed examination of the brain itself may not be required, that the brain could be treated as a black box instead and effectively duplicated "for all practical purposes" by merely duplicating how it responds to specific external stimuli. This leads into even deeper philosophical questions of what the "self" is.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~