Mind Uploading: Fundamentals and Applications

By Fouad Sabry

What Is Mind Uploading

A brain scan would be utilized in the hypothetical process of mind uploading, also known as whole brain emulation. The goal of this technique would be to recreate an individual's mental state in its entirety inside of a digital computer. The computer would then simulate the information processing of the brain in such a way that it would react in essentially the same way as the original brain and have the experience of having a sentient conscious mind.

How You Will Benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Mind uploading

Chapter 2: Cognitive science

Chapter 3: Neuroscience

Chapter 4: Computational neuroscience

Chapter 5: Neuroinformatics

Chapter 6: Artificial consciousness

Chapter 7: Artificial general intelligence

Chapter 8: Brain simulation

Chapter 9: Digital immortality

Chapter 10: 2045 Initiative

(II) Answering the public top questions about mind uploading.

(III) Real world examples for the usage of mind uploading in many fields.

(IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of mind uploading' technologies.

Who This Book Is For

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of mind uploading.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jul 2, 2023

Book preview

Chapter 1: Mind uploading

The process of scanning a physical structure of the brain accurately enough to create an emulation of the mental state (including long-term memory and self) and transferring or copying it to a computer in a digital form is referred to as mind uploading, which is also known as whole brain emulation (WBE). This concept refers to a hypothetical and potentially realizable future process. The computer would then simulate the information processing of the brain in such a manner that it would react in much the same way as the original brain and have the sensation of having a sentient aware mind. Supporters of mind uploading claim that many of the necessary tools and concepts either exist or are in the process of being actively developed; yet, they will agree that others are, as yet, quite speculative but maintain they are still within the range of technical feasibility.

Copy-and-upload or copy-and-delete by gradual replacement of neurons (which can be considered as a gradual destructive uploading) are the two methods that have the potential to be used in the process of mind uploading. Both of these procedures involve gradually replacing neurons until the original organic brain is no longer present and a computer program that emulates the brain takes control of the body. In the first approach, mind uploading would be accomplished by first scanning and mapping the primary characteristics of a biological brain, followed by storing and copying the information state that was obtained from the scanning and mapping process into a computer system or some other type of computational device. In certain implementations of the uploading process, the biological brain either does not survive the copying process or is purposefully killed while it is in progress. It's possible that the simulated mind is located in a virtual reality or simulated environment, and that it's supported by an anatomical 3D body simulation model. Alternately, the simulated mind might be housed in a computer that is located inside of (or either linked to or remotely controlled by) a robot that does not necessarily take the form of a humanoid, as well as a biological or cybernetic body. The notion of mind uploading is essential to the plot of a great number of works of science fiction, including books, movies, and video games.

There is widespread agreement among neuroscientists that the human mind is essentially an emergent phenomenon resulting from the information processing carried out by its neural network.

Neuroscientists have hypothesized that fundamental mental operations such as learning, remembering, and being aware are the result of purely physical and electrochemical processes occurring inside the brain, and that these operations are subject to the rules that govern their operation. Take, for instance, what Christof Koch and Giulio Tononi had to say in their article for IEEE Spectrum:

The natural world has a component known as consciousness. We think that it is merely dependent on mathematics and logic, as well as the principles of physics, chemistry, and biology that are only partially understood, and that it does not originate from any supernatural or otherworldly aspect.

This mechanical viewpoint of the mind underpins the notion of mind uploading, which rejects the vitalist perspective on the nature of human life and awareness.

If the knowledge and activities of the mind can be disassociated from the biological body, then they are no longer connected to the specific constraints and lifetime of that body, according to the hypothesis. Additionally, the information contained inside a brain might be partially or completely replicated or moved to one or more other substrates (such as digital storage or another brain), so decreasing or eliminating the mortality risk of such information from a strictly mechanical point of view. George M. Martin, a biogerontologist at the University of Washington, first broached the subject of this basic proposition in 1971.

In human spaceflight, a uploaded astronaut might be employed instead of a live astronaut to avoid the dangers that zero gravity, the vacuum of space, and cosmic radiation pose to the human body. It would make it possible to employ spaceships of a smaller size, such as the concept for the StarChip, and it would make it possible to traverse almost endless distances between the stars.

In the case of copy-and-transfer, mind uploading places more of an emphasis on the process of data gathering than it does on the process of data upkeep of the brain. When attempting to define and replicate the mental contents of a brain, one method that may be used is a collection of techniques known as loosely linked off-loading (LCOL). The LCOL methodology may make use of self-reports, life diaries, and video recordings that are amenable to being examined by artificial intelligence. An strategy that works from the bottom up may center its attention on the precise resolution and morphology of neurons, as well as the spike times of neurons and the times at which neurons make action potential responses.

Moore's law is used as evidence by proponents of mind uploading to bolster the idea that the required amount of processing power is likely to become accessible within the next several decades. However, it is exceedingly difficult to calculate the real processing needs for operating an uploaded human mind, which might possibly make such an argument irrelevant.

Regardless of the methods that are used to capture or recreate the function of a human mind, the processing demands are likely to be enormous. This is because the human brain contains a large number of neurons, each of which is highly complex, and the human brain as a whole contains a large number of neurons.

In 2004, the head researcher of the Blue Brain Project, Henry Markram, declared that it is not [their] intention to develop an intelligent neural network. This decision was made based purely on the demands that such a project would have on the computer's processing power.

Because every molecule in the brain acts like a powerful computer, this endeavor is going to be very challenging. In order to be successful, we will need to simulate not only the structure and function of trillions upon trillions of molecules, but also all of the rules that govern how these molecules interact with one another. You would figuratively need computers that are billions of times larger and more powerful than anything that is now available on the market.

Five years later, after successfully simulating a portion of a rat's brain, Markram felt considerably more confident and upbeat about the future of his research. In his role as head of the Blue Brain Project in 2009, he made the bold assertion that A detailed, working artificial human brain can be developed within the next 10 years..

When modeling and simulating the brain of a particular person, it is necessary to extract from an anatomic model of the brain either a brain map or a connectivity database that demonstrates the connections that exist between the neurons. This network map has to illustrate the connection of the whole nervous system in order to simulate the functioning of the full brain. This includes the spinal cord, sensory receptors, and muscle cells. Since 2010, it has become able to do destructive scanning on a tiny sample of tissue taken from the mouse brain. This scanning may reveal synaptic intricacies. The epigenetic states of neurons, protein components with various functional modes, and other biological intricacies of genuine brain function may make it impossible to provide an accurate forecast of the amount of binary data necessary to authentically depict a working human mind.

Serial sectioning is one technique that could be used for the process of mind uploading. In this technique, the brain tissue and possibly other parts of the nervous system are frozen, and then they are scanned and analyzed layer by layer. This technique requires the use of a cryo-ultramicrotome for frozen samples at the nano-scale, which records the structure of the neurons and their interconnections. Following this, the scans would be processed, and a model of the neural net would be constructed inside the computer system into which the mind was being uploaded.

Using the methods of microscopy that are now available, this approach is fraught with uncertainty. If it were feasible to reproduce neuron function based just on its visual structure, then the resolution that a scanning electron microscope provides would be sufficient for such a method. However, due to the fact that the function of brain tissue is partly influenced by molecular processes (especially at synapses, but also at other points on the neuron's cell membrane), this may not be sufficient for capturing and recreating the activities of neurons. It is possible to extend the techniques of serial sectioning and to capture the internal molecular makeup of neurons by utilizing sophisticated immunohistochemistry staining methods, which could then be read