Downloading yourself into a computer

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Suppose you are 80 years old and, sadly, dying of a terminal cancer. One day, your chemotherapy doctor gives you a brochure about a new technology that allows individuals to dispense with their bodies and allow their brain's information to be downloaded into a tiny, flying robot. You see the price estimate on the brochure and think to yourself, hey, I could afford this. According to the brochure, all aspects of the personality and all knowledge would be preserved. Patients would be able to live for at least 300 years in the form of this miniscule, highly mobile computer, which gives them augmented vision and hearing and an IQ of 200. However, the process of downloading the brain's information would destroy the individual's former body.

a) Would you choose to go ahead with this procedure?
b) Would you still be a human being, mentally speaking, after your brain's information had been transferred to the robot?
c) Would you still be a human being, spiritually speaking, after your brain's information had been transferred to the robot? In other words, would you still have a soul?

A: I wouldn't do it for myself, as it'll likely destroy your conscious existence; because you can't really copy it as it's structured on an subatomic particle level I believe. It'll work however all that would be left of you is your thoughts and no associated conscious to go with them.

B: The robot is nothing but a data storage for your thoughts and acts them out in accordance to the brain programming. It may be like you, sound like you but it's not actually you. I would consider it as making a mental clone of yourself basically.

C: Once the conscious is lost, the soul is lost with it because the soul is your consciousness in my opinion.

(A) I would go through with it as I am dying anyway, I probably wouldn't make the same choice if I didn't have terminal cancer though.

(B) Mentally, I would be similar if not the same, I suppose if there was absolutely no error and a perfect transfer it would be the same, I just doubt that such perfection would be possible.

(C) I would have no soul as I have died. The robot is just a copy of my mind and not of my soul.

As long as it was an accurate replication of the human psyche I would go ahead with this procedure. I would wait until the very last second though. With the developments in quantum computing this may someday be a reality. It is my belief that the human mind is already in a sense interfaced with the Universe. Based on this assumption, the human mind must also operate on quantum dynamical laws. Have you ever looked at someone only to have then immediately turn around as if they felt your gaze? This signifies to me that an energy is being transmitted somehow through the Universal medium. Would a machine based on heavy metals and electrical energy provoke this same reaction? Did you know that if you move an object you are in reality also moving the Universe? Are you aware that the Earth is in reality flat because of the factor of time? Have you heard about the developing field of temporal quantum dynamics? Are you wondering why I am asking so many questions? I am. : ) Have a good day all.

The key word is transfer, rather than copy. I'd rather a transfer of my brain, rather than copying it, and destroying the original...

i dont think i'd like my body destroyed like that, good idea though.

I have seen you somewhere before mate. Do you work as a engineer in london or something.

No, I am a medical science student, currently out of Uni and out of work, from Australia.

No, you won't be the same person, just a copy. From the point of 'copy' you are different so I will die and go towards my next life or to absolutely nothing. Either way

I love that most people would do this!

This body I'm in now is a copy of the 1 I had yeserday.
A copy of the 1 I had at 30.
A copy of the 1 I had at 20.
A copy of 1 cell.
I'd really like to stick it out for a copy of Cameron Diaz.

His avatar is the Eighth Doctor. It was the Tenth Doctor. Clearly he has found a way to reverse the regeneration process, and so has no need to download his consciousness. He would have gone from being merely very long lived, with thirteen lives - original one, already long in comparison with human lives, plus twelve regenerations - to being immortal (unless there is a limit to the process). Anyway, timelords already vastly outlast the paltry three centuries extra the minature robot has in addition to the original seven decades in the human body. I think immortality would be spoiling them especially as most of them other than the Doctor are either detached non-interventionists (most remaining on Gallifrey, or rather now not remaining since Last Great Time War) or downright evil (the Master, the Rani, ultimately, though perhaps not originally Borusa, debatably Mortimus/the Monk/Time Meddler, the whole High Council of Gallifrey from Trial of a Timelord. And Azmael/Edgeworth acted wrongly at times. And some written rather than televised, sources claim that even Romana in her third incarnation and ensuing Presidency turned sort of evil, though this stretches credibility rather. Not to mention between the Doctor's penultimate and final incarnations some side effect of the regeneration is going to bring into being a distillation of his evil side known as the Valeyard, who will then (or earlier depending on your point of view) be brought back in time by a more than usually corrupt High Council to act as prosecution at the Sixth Doctor's trial - what ever happened to/will happen to him ie Valeyard ? - not many lives to go for the Doctor). Sorry about the long post.

I just remembered - Borusa is already immortal thanks to Rassillon, though not in a position to appreciate it.

No because I believe in a soul, which obviously cannot be 'transferred'. I think that any transfer of a mind is a bit like moving a file on a computer. First, you copy the file. Then, you delete the original. I don't want my original to be deleted because it is irreplaceable.

I agree with Saepius.

if you're interested in this, you should read some of Ray Kurzweil's articles / books:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil
http://www.kurzweilai.net/