Mind uploading

Mind uploading is a hypothetical process of whole brain emulation in which a brain scan is used to completely emulate a person's mental state in a digital computer. The computer would then run a simulation of the brain's information processing, such that it would respond in essentially the same way as the original brain and have a sentient conscious mind. Substantial mainstream research in related areas is being conducted in neuroscience and computer science, including animal brain mapping and simulation, development of faster supercomputers, virtual reality, brain–computer interfaces, connectomics, and information extraction from dynamically functioning brains. Supporters say many of the tools and ideas needed to achieve mind uploading already exist or are under active development, but they admit that others are, as yet, very speculative, though still in the realm of engineering possibility. Mind uploading may be accomplished by either of two methods: copy-and-upload or copy-and-delete by gradual replacement of neurons (which can be considered gradual destructive uploading) until the original organic brain no longer exists and a computer program emulating it takes control of the body. In the former method, mind uploading would be achieved by scanning and mapping the salient features of a biological brain and then storing and copying that information into a computer system or another computational device. The biological brain may not survive the copying process or may be deliberately destroyed during it. The simulated mind could be in a virtual reality or simulated world, supported by an anatomic 3D body simulation model. Alternatively, the simulated mind could reside in a computer inside—or either connected to or remotely controlled by—a (not necessarily humanoid) robot, biological, or cybernetic body. Among some futurists and within part of the transhumanist movement, mind uploading is treated as an important proposed life extension or immortality technology (known as "digital...