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Mind uploading or whole brain emulation (sometimes called mind transfer or electronic transcendence) is the hypothetical process of scanning and mapping a biological brain in detail and copying its state into a computer system or another computational device. The computer runs a simulation model so faithful to the original that it will behave in essentially the same way as the original brain, or for all practical purposes, indistinguishably.^[1]

Whole brain emulation is discussed as a logical endpoint^[1] of the topical computational neuroscience and neuroinformatics fields, both about brain simulation for medical research purposes. It is discussed in artificial intelligence research publications^[2] as an approach to strong AI. Among futurists and within the transhumanist movement it is an important proposed life extension technology, originally suggested in biomedical literature in 1971^[3]. It is a central conceptual feature of numerous science fiction novels and films.

Whole brain simulation is considered by some scientists as a theoretical and futuristic but possible technology^[1], although mainstream research funders remain skeptical. Several contradictory and already passed attempts have been made during the years to predict when whole human brain simulation can come true. Substantial mainstream research and development are however being done in relevant areas including development of faster super computers, virtual reality, brain-computer interfaces, animal brain mapping and simulation, and information extraction from dynamically functioning brains^[4]. The question whether an emulated brain can be a human mind is debated by philosophers, and may be contradicted by the dualistic view of the human mind that is common in many religions.

The term mind transfer also aims at the transfer of the state of a brain to another biological brain. No current research or development activities are reported in this area.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Theoretical benefits 2.1 Immortality/Backup 2.2 Multiple/Parallel Existence 3 Issues 3.1 Computational issues 3.2 Philosophical issues 3.2.1 Copying vs. moving 3.3 Legal and economical issues 4 Relevant technologies and techniques 4.1 Emulation techniques 4.1.1 Serial sectioning 4.1.2 Nanoscale probing 4.1.3 Brain imaging 5 Current research 6 Mind uploading in science fiction 7 Mind uploading advocates and critics 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Overview

The human brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells called neurons, each individually linked to other neurons by way of connectors called axons and dendrites. Signals at the junctures (synapses) of these connections are transmitted by the release and detection of chemicals known as neurotransmitters. The established neuroscientific consensus is that the human mind is largely an emergent property of the information processing of this neural network.

Importantly, many leading neuroscientists have stated they believe important functions performed by the mind, such as learning, memory, and consciousness, are due to purely physical and electrochemical processes in the brain and are governed by applicable laws. For example, Christof Koch and Giulio Tononi wrote in IEEE Spectrum:

"Consciousness is part of the natural world. It depends, we believe, only on mathematics and logic and on the imperfectly known laws of physics, chemistry, and biology; it does not arise from some magical or otherworldly quality."^[5]

The concept of mind uploading is based on this mechanistic view of the mind, and also relies on certain assumptions about the nature of human consciousness and the philosophy of artificial intelligence. It assumes that strong AI machine intelligence is not only possible, but is very similar to or indistinguishable from human intelligence, and denies the vitalist view of human life and consciousness.

Many eminent computer scientists and neuroscientists have predicted that computers will be capable of thought and even attain consciousness, including Koch and Tononi ^[6], Douglas Hofstadter ^[7], Jeff Hawkins ^[7], Marvin Minsky ^[8], Randal A. Koene ^[9], and Rodolfo Llinas ^[10]. Such a machine intelligence capability might provide a computational substrate necessary for uploading.

However, even though uploading is dependent upon such a general capability it is conceptually distinct from general forms of AI in that it results from dynamic reanimation of information derived from a specific human mind so that the mind retains a sense of historical identity (other forms are possible but would compromise or eliminate the life-extension feature generally associated with uploading). The transferred and reanimated information would become a form of artificial intelligence, sometimes called an infomorph or "noömorph."

Even if uploading is theoretically possible, the amount of storage and computational power required are difficult to predict. Nevertheless, many theorists have presented models of the brain and have established a range of estimates of the amount of computing power needed for partial and complete simulations (citations needed for Boahen, Modha, Izhikevich, Bostrom and Sandberg, others). Using these models, some have estimated that uploading may become possible within decades if trends such as Moore's Law continue.^{[citation needed]}

The prospect of uploading human consciousness in this manner raises many philosophical questions involving identity, individuality and the soul, as well as numerous problems of medical ethics and morality of the process.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) (also known as neuro-computer interfaces, direct neuron interfaces or cerebral interfaces) constitute one of the hypothetical technologies for the reading of information in the dynamically functioning brain^{[citation needed]}. The production of this or a similar device may be essential to the possibility of mind uploading a living human subject.

[edit] Theoretical benefits

[edit] Immortality/Backup

In theory, if the information and processes of the mind can be disassociated from the biological body, they are no longer tied to the individual limits and lifespan of that body. Furthermore, information within a brain could be partly or wholly copied or transferred to one or more other substrates (including digital storage or another brain), thereby reducing or eliminating mortality risk. This general proposal appears to have been first made in the biomedical literature in 1971 by renowned University of Washington biogerontologist George M. Martin^[3]

[edit] Multiple/Parallel Existence

Another concept explored in science fiction is the idea of more than one running "copy" of a human mind existing at once. Such copies could potentially allow an "individual" to experience many things at once, and later integrate the experiences of all copies into a central mentality at some point in the future, effectively allowing a single sentient being to "be many places at once" and "do many things at once"; this concept has been explored in fiction. Such partial and complete copies of a sentient being raise interesting questions regarding identity and individuality.

[edit] Issues

[edit] Computational issues

Regardless of the techniques used to capture or recreate the function of a human mind, the processing demands are likely to be immense, due to the large number of neurons in the human brain along with the considerable complexity of each neuron.

Henry Markram, lead researcher of the "Blue Brain Project", has stated that "it is not [their] goal to build an intelligent neural network", based solely on the computational demands such a project would have^[11].

It will be very difficult because, in the brain, every molecule is a powerful computer and we would need to simulate the structure and function of trillions upon trillions of molecules as well as all the rules that govern how they interact. You would literally need computers that are trillions of times bigger and faster than anything existing today.^[12]

Advocates of mind uploading point to Moore's law to support the notion that the necessary computing power may become available within a few decades. However, the actual computational requirements for running an uploaded human mind are very difficult to quantify, potentially rendering such an argument specious.

[edit] Philosophical issues

[edit] Copying vs. moving

Another philosophical issue with mind uploading is whether an uploaded mind is really the "same" sentience, or simply an exact copy with the same memories and personality; or, indeed, what the difference could be between such a copy and the original. This issue is especially complex if the original remains essentially unchanged by the procedure, thereby resulting in an obvious copy which could potentially have rights separate from the unaltered, obvious original.

Most projected brain scanning technologies, such as serial sectioning of the brain, would necessarily be destructive, and the original brain would not survive the brain scanning procedure. But if it can be kept intact, the computer-based consciousness could be a copy of the still-living biological person. It is in that case implicit that copying a consciousness could be as feasible as moving it into one or several copies, since these technologies generally involve simulating the human brain in a computer of some sort, and digital files such as computer programs can be copied precisely. It is usually assumed that once the versions are exposed to different sensory inputs, their experiences would begin to diverge, but all their memories up until the moment of the copying would remain the same.

The problem is made even more serious by the possibility of creating a potentially infinite number of initially identical copies of the original person, which would of course all exist simultaneously as distinct beings. The most parsimonious view of this phenomenon is that the two (or more) individuals would share a past identity and memories but from the point of duplication would simply be distinct individuals. Many complex variations are possible.

Depending on computational capacity, the simulation may run at slower or faster simulation time as compared to the elapsed physical time, resulting in that the simulated mind would perceive that the physical world is running in slow motion or fast motion respectively, while biological persons will see the simulated mind in fast or slow motion respectively.

A brain simulation can be started, paused, backed-up and rerun from the a saved backup state at any time. The simulated mind would in the latter case forget everything that has happened after the instant of backup, and perhaps not even be aware of that it is repeating itself. An older version of a simulated mind may meet a younger version and share experiences with it.

[edit] Legal and economical issues

The only limited resource in a simulated world is computational resources, meaning simulation speed, and intellectual properties. In a simulated society, rich simulated minds may pay for faster simulation time than others.

It may be tempting for social science researchers to expose simulated minds, or whole isolated societies of simulated minds, to controlled experiments, where many copies of the same minds, or repeated reruns of the same simulation, is expose to different test conditions. It may be difficult for authorities to supervise that human rights are not threatened in any computer in the world.

[edit] Relevant technologies and techniques

[edit] Emulation techniques

Since the function of the human mind, and how it might arise from the working of the brain's neural network, are poorly understood issues, many theoretical approaches to mind uploading rely on the idea of emulation. Rather than having to understand the functioning of the human mind, the structure of underlying neural network is captured and simulated with a computer system. The human mind then, theoretically, is generated by the simulated neural network in an identical fashion to it being generated by the biological neural network.

These approaches require only that we understand the nature of neurons and how their connections function, that we can simulate them well enough, that we have the computational power to run such large simulations (and in real time), and that the state of the brain's neural network can be captured with enough fidelity to create an accurate simulation.

[edit] Serial sectioning

A possible method for mind uploading is serial sectioning, in which the brain tissue and perhaps other parts of the nervous system are frozen and then scanned and analyzed layer by layer, thus capturing the structure of the neurons and their interconnections^[13]. The exposed surface of frozen nerve tissue would be scanned and recorded, and then the surface layer of tissue removed. While this would be a very slow and labor intensive process, research is currently underway to automate the collection and microscopy of serial sections^[14]. The scans would then be analyzed, and a model of the neural net recreated in the system that the mind was being uploaded into.

There are uncertainties with this approach using current microscopy techniques. If it is possible to replicate neuron function from its visible structure alone, then the resolution afforded by a scanning electron microscope would suffice for such a technique^[14]. However, as the function of brain tissue is partially determined by molecular events (particularly at synapses, but also at other places on the neuron's cell membrane), this may not suffice for capturing and simulating neuron functions. It may be possible to extend the techniques of serial sectioning and to capture the internal molecular makeup of neurons, through the use of sophisticated immunohistochemistry staining methods which could then be read via confocal laser scanning microscopy. However, as the physiological genesis of 'mind' is not currently known, this method may not be able to access all of the necessary biochemical information to recreate a human brain with sufficient fidelity.

[edit] Nanoscale probing

A more advanced hypothetical technique that would require nanotechnology might involve infiltrating the intact brain with a network of nanoscale machines to "read" the structure and activity of the brain in situ. The data collected from these probes could then be used to continuously build up a simulation of the neural network being probed using an expert system^{[clarification needed]} with machine learning -- which could check and correct the behavior of the emulated model against the behavior of the biological system in real time until the accuracy of the emulation would reach a sufficiently acceptable level.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Brain imaging

It may also be possible to use advanced neuroimaging technology (such as fMRI, Magnetoencephalography, or combinations of multiple methods) to build a detailed three-dimensional model of the brain using non-invasive and non-destructive methods. Even though current imaging technology lacks the spatial resolution needed to gather the information needed for such a scan, important recent and future developments are predicted to substantially improve both spatial and temporal resolutions of existing technologies.^[15]

[edit] Current research

An artificial neural network almost half as complex as the brain of a mouse^{[citation needed]} was run on an IBM blue gene supercomputer by a University of Nevada research team in 2007. A simulated time of one second took ten seconds of computer time. The researchers said they had seen "biologically consistent" nerve impulses flowed through the virtual cortex. However, the simulation lacked the structures seen in real mice brains, and they intend to improve the accuracy of the neuron model.^[16].

Blue Brain is a project, launched in May 2005 by IBM and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, with the aim to create a computer simulation of a mammalian cortical column, down to the molecular level.^[17] The project uses a supercomputer based on IBM's Blue Gene design to simulate the electrical behavior of neurons based upon their synaptic connectivity and complement of intrinsic membrane currents. The initial goal of the project, completed in December 2006^[18], was the simulation of a rat neocortical column, which can be considered the smallest functional unit of the neocortex (the part of the brain thought to be responsible for higher functions such as conscious thought), containing 10,000 neurons (and 10⁸ synapses). Between 1995 and 2005, Henry Markram mapped the types of neurons and their connections in such a column. In November 2007^[19], the project reported the end of the first phase, delivering a data-driven process for creating, validating, and researching the neocortical column. The project seeks to eventually reveal aspects of human cognition and various psychiatric disorders caused by malfunctioning neurons, such as autism, and to understand how pharmacological agents affect network behavior.

[edit] Mind uploading in science fiction

[edit] Mind uploading advocates and critics

Followers of the Raëlian religion advocate mind uploading in the process of human cloning to achieve eternal life. Living inside of a computer is also seen by followers as an eminent possibility.^[20]

However, mind uploading is also advocated by a number of secular researchers in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, such as Marvin Minsky. In 1993, Joe Strout created a small web site called the Mind Uploading Home Page, and began advocating the idea in Cryonics circles and elsewhere on the net. That site has not been actively updated in recent years, but it has spawned other sites including MindUploading.org, run by Randal A. Koene, Ph.D., who also moderates a mailing list on the topic. These advocates see mind uploading as a medical procedure which could eventually save countless lives.

Many Transhumanists look forward to the development and deployment of mind uploading technology, with many predicting that it will become possible within the 21st century due to technological trends such as Moore's Law. Many view it as the end phase of the Transhumanist project, which might be said to begin with the genetic engineering of biological humans, continue with the cybernetic enhancement of genetically engineered humans, and finally obtain with the replacement of all remaining biological aspects.

The book Beyond Humanity: CyberEvolution and Future Minds by Gregory S. Paul & Earl D. Cox, is about the eventual (and, to the authors, almost inevitable) evolution of computers into sentient beings, but also deals with human mind transfer. Richard Doyle's Wetwares: Experiments in PostVital Living deals extensively with uploading from the perspective of distributed embodiment, arguing for example that humans are currently part of the "artificial life phenotype." Doyle's vision reverses the polarity on uploading, with artificial life forms such as uploads actively seeking out biological embodiment as part of their reproductive strategy. Raymond Kurzweil, a prominent advocate of transhumanism and the likelihood of a technological singularity, has suggested that the easiest path to human-level artificial intelligence may lie in "reverse-engineering the human brain", which he usually uses to refer to the creation of a new intelligence based on the general "principles of operation" of the brain, but he also sometimes uses the term to refer to the notion of uploading individual human minds based on highly detailed scans and simulations. This idea is discussed on pp. 198–203 of his book The Singularity is Near, for example.

[edit] See also

• Artificial intelligence
• Brain-computer interface
• Brain transplant
• Cyborg
• Exocortex
• Immortality test
• Isolated brain
• Permutation City
• Simulation Hypothesis
• Simulated reality
• Simulism
• Taylor algorithms (fiction)
• Technological Singularity
• Turing test

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Duplicates Paradox by Ben Best; theories about the problem of personal continuity
• Joe Strout's Mind Uploading Home Page
• MindUploading.org
• "The Day You Discard Your Body" by Marshall Brain
• Winter of our Consciousness, article in The Future Fire 3
• Reality 3.0: Uploading, Hypermediation & Paradise Engineering by Paul Hughes
• Links on uploading from Anders Sandberg
• Transhumanist writings on uploading from the Foresight Institute
• Reverse Engineering The Brain from IEEE Spectrum
• Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap by Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom, from the Future of Humanity Institute
• [1] by Lizzie Buchen from [2]