A mild winter makes the mind wander. Dreams of faraway places and technology that could only be considered fiction jumble around in my head and make me think about what could be possible. However, the one science fiction idea that has been coming to my mind recently has been about the mind itself. What are its limits and how could we go beyond it?
Technology has been advancing at a rapid rate and some ideas are becoming closer to reality, like improving our brain’s processing and storage ability (Neuralink). Still, there are still some ideas that are firmly science fiction, especially when it comes to the mind.
The big one that is being talked about more recently has been transferring one’s mind. I first heard about the concept through a movie called, Chappie, but its been talked about in science fiction for decades and most recently with the release of the video game, Cyberpunk 2077.
Cyberpunk 2077, heavily influenced by Neuromancer, is a role-playing video game taking place in a fictional place called, Night City. The people during this time have gone through massive technology advances leading to human technology augmentations. Chips in brains, reinforced legs, blades that can come out of your arms, the sky’s the limit. But neurological advances of transferring the brain is also discussed.
I always found it fascinating what the mind could do, but its even more interesting to learn about what it would take to accomplish the task of transferring one’s mind to either another body or into the internet itself. Desperate to learn more, I stumbled along a video that gives a fun and simple way of approaching a large, complex problem. You can watch the video below:
What I found most interesting about the video were the three layers: Physicalism, Scanability, Computability
I didn’t put much thought into what would be required to actually do the task of moving minds around. Starting at the physical level and being able to construct the proper system to handle the mind would take a tremendous amount of work and require an effective scan of the brain. The scan would have to not only be able to map the mind at the basic structural level, but at a molecular level as well. And then, even if all that was done, there would still be tests to see if it worked properly and efficiently. I mean, were talking about over 2 million petabytes for a single human brain!
This is all under the assumption the mind, the parts that make up you and me, is something we can even replicate. My head’s all over the place when talking about this because I get so excited at all the potential it brings for improvements to humanity.
If you want to read over all of the information that is discussed in the video, I’d highly recommend it.
What are some stories (short story, novels, movies, etc.) that you know talk about mind uploading? There are probably a ton I am just spacing on.
Let me know in the comments.
Until next time, read, write repeat.
-J.J.