From: Doug Bailey (Doug.Bailey@ey.com)
Date: Fri Jul 17 1998 - 07:55:00 MDT
It seems to me that the unresolved issue concerning
this question is whether or not there is some aspect
of a living organism that could not be "captured" by
the uploading process, i.e., the representative copy
of an organism's brain that is uploaded to another
substrate. I must confess I feel anxiety when thinking
about uploading. I constructed a scenario own views on
the issue outlined above.
What would you do if faced with the following situation:
You are approached by an individual who offers you
$100 million (if money does not suit you then insert
any other item that you would assign a very high value).
The catch is that you must agree to have your brain
scanned using the latest in pre-upload scan technology.
The scan will be stored dormant in a memory block. You
will then be killed. Twenty-four hours later the dormant
scan of your brain will be downloaded into your repaired
body. Any damage to your brain, body, etc. would be
completely repaired. You would be "jump-started" and then
handed whatever was promised to you.
Would take this person up on this offer?
I found myself uncertain and a bit anxious. Why? I could
not really articulate why I was anxious. I feared that the
person that received the prize (and who was alive) would
not be me, even though by every scientific measure it
would be me.
Whether you do or don't accept the offer is based on your
view of the issue I described above. If you think scans
capture everything then you would risk nothing in return
for something of great value. On the other hand, if you
have doubts about the ability of scanning then you would
be apprehensive. I confess I am apprehensive.
Despite my ideas about the possibility of uploading and
my lack of belief in a "soul", I still could not help but
fear that some aspect of me would not be captured.
Would the memories the revived "me" had be genuine?
Would they be the memories it (i.e., me) actually
experienced or would they be downloaded records?
For that matter, what's the different between the two if
the downloaded record has all the information I remember from
the experience.
To all the neuro-cogniscenti out there, is there any
substantiation to my apprehension? Is there any evidence that
uploading might not capture all the aspects of the human mind?
Doug Bailey
doug.bailey@ey.com
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