How to Upload a Mind (In Three Not-So-Easy Steps)

We hope this new tutorial will serve you at least as well as our previous one about how to take over the universe. You're welcome. 🟠 Patreon: www.patreon.com/rationalanimations 🔵 Channel membership: youtube.com/channel/UCgqt1RE0k0MIr0LoyJRy2lg/join 🟤 Ko-fi, for one-time and recurring support: ko-fi.com/rationalanimations

It's also important to note that even with computational speed limits, we might not have to run the emulation in real time

One problem might be that we over estimate what the brain is responsible for, and neglect the fact that it interacts with a body which also sends and interprets signals. One interesting example comes from pianists who are able to play a lot of notes compared to the limited bandwidth between the brain and hands, which suggests some form of co-learn compression, which would also have to be scanned / interpreted / emulated.

i'd just like to point out how phenomenal the soundtrack for this video is, huge props to the composers!

I think the Bobiverse series was a piece of science fiction that really drives home the fact that just running the emulation isn't enough to sustain a human mind. The task is made more complex by the fact that the brain requires at least some inputs at its own run speed - Putting a human in a dark, soundless box is considered not generally a fun time for most people. Much more so if they're divorced from even their own sense of touch, smell, taste, proprioception, thermoperception... Not having a body would fundamentally change how a human brain operates, and may require either fundamental architectural changes - Or the simpler solution, a simulated environment (and body) to replace those sensations sufficiently. Yeah, game design may actually be a crucial step in this problem. Weird to think about.

The TV show "Pantheon" is an excellent and criminally underrated series that explores the ethics of mind uploads.

It's important to note that even if a brain isn't doing something that can be mapped to computation, computation can simply emulate the atoms the brain is made of. That's obviously more computationally intense, but at a bare minimum, that's enough detail to emulate a brain. It may be possible to perfectly emulate a brain with less detail than that, but that is an upper bound.

“From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh…” Ngl though if I could make sure that it was truly me in the machine and not a clone, I would be all for this

This topic is explored beautifully in the fantastic show Pantheon which just wrapped up. It is relatively unknown and highly underrated. All the topics in this video and many more are explored in depth through a rich and complex story. Furthermore, It is rare for me to give such high praise to a piece of media, but Pantheon is one of the greatest Sci-Fi shows ever made. I want to get the word out, so people finally discover this hidden gem.

The fact that we are getting closer to the science fiction goal of digitizing a human brain is both fascinating and deeply unsettling.

Glad to have my daily dose of existential dread thanks to man-made horrors beyond my comprehension delivered in such a nice package!

"Time to flip the switch on and say hi to a new kind of human." INCOHERENT UNEARTHLY SCREAMS from PC speakers.

"uploaded 1 minute ago" never clicked so fast in my life.

The rate of uploads is going up! It's also very gratifying to see I video I know will be high quality, but is also under a thousand views because it just came out. Also, I'll take whatever I can get, if supercharging vague neuralink/BMI/mind upload tech is a way to get through alignment, yes please.

This channel goes from strength to strength. The topic range is broad and covers topics I would not be interested in. However, they turn out to be some of the most interesting and enjoyable uploads. Thanks to everyone involved for your tireless work.

That cute little puppy character keeps making me watch the videos. They are so adorable

If you want to digitize a human brain "Ethically", you have to do it through what I've pet-named the "Theseus Method". Using the Ship of Theseus Paradox: Gradual, segmented replacement of the human brain will maintain the illusion of a single consciousness, instead of creating a duplicate and destroying the original. This will require a communication between the brain and the device you're being uploaded to, along with the ability to; remove, replace and emulate the parts of the brain that are gradually being removed but this also removes the moral dilemma of "I'm just making a copy" since the illusion of continuum is unbroken.

Alternarive approach: 1. Scan (same first step) 2. Represent your brain's history (but not necessarily all at once) 3. Program stem cells to develop in a similar way as you did, potentially including memories For the next decade or so, it'd be impressive even just to guide the stem cells to mimic your personality without major unintended defects, but that would basically be having a kid in a less efficient way. If we get true clones with memories via brain decoding and cellular encoding, you could live forever without a memory lapse any longer than a week (if you always go to weekly checkups). Pro: Immortals thinking more long-term because of centuries of experience and inability to push burdens to future generations Con: If we ALL become immortal, have kids, and continue living on Earth; land disputes will get infinitely worse unless we sever one of the 3 values above

I was imagining the ethics of this process. We're making a virtual, wholly-functioning brain, and we will be doing this a lot: perhaps billions or more of times. Each time we turn these v-brains on, we're making a potentially conscious, virtual organism. Maybe we can speed up the rate of their life (similar to how we can speed up video games). Maybe it would be too taxing on our resources to let them live forever, so we let them live for a hundred or so years in their virtual yet very realistic universe. As I was writing this, it became clear that I could be talking about myself or ourselves. We could simulate brains in a virtual but very realistic world. Spooky. Anyhow, the ethics of this whole thing is strange because we would be making billions or more of virtual lives that live: suffer, pleasure, boring, exciting, wonderful, and terrible. What's more, we could be testing the v-brain for something particular. Coming back to me or us being simulated v-brains: we could have already served our purpose, or this right now is our purpose, or maybe we haven't reached the point of our purpose yet. Yet another situation: perhaps our purpose is plural or manifold: it could overtime somehow overlap with itself. This whole thing is really bothering me in some existential manner. If I were a v-brain, then I have to say thanks for making me. You (the thing that simulated me) already know that I kind of hate living, but I also enjoy living. Thanks for giving me a life-dream that was okay. It hasn't been too terrible of a life-dream. Blue from the Cowboy Bebop OST is playing in my head, but you already know that, don't you. 😁 I'll see you later, Space Cowboy.

"Why is the simulated human screaming?" "Did anyone give it sensory input?" "... oops"