[vgchh]

Frankly, this is what America has always been about - A combination of science, technology and capitalism. We need a lot more of these moonshots attempted at a massive scale. So what if it may not work out? People can not stop for the fear of failure. If founders have money and resources, by all mean I for one welcome these with open arms.

[ghoomketu]

Yeah I wouldn't even mind if somebody spent billions on finding an 'Upload' like solution where you can just put your consciousness in a computer and live forever like that instead.

People generally have a knee jerk hate for such things but I welcome that with open arms too.

[kiba]

I wouldn't push the upload button unless it is a last resort.

It's a philosophy problem about consciousness and continuity more than anything else. Call it the star trek teleporter problem.

[mrshadowgoose]

It really depends on how the hypothetical upload process works.

Scan and replicate? Heck no. That's just death, with the creation of a new consciousness that behaves exactly like the original, while not being the original.

It would require mature nanotechnology, but it might be possible to transition a whole brain neuron-by-neuron into a simulated space, while proxying existing connectivity between the original not-yet-transferred neurons and newly transferred simulated neurons.

Our brains already experience continuous physical drift while maintaining a continued sense of self. So the gradual, online, ship of Theseus approach might work for uploading as well.

Ultimately I don't think it will be provable as to what is actually required for a non-destructive transfer of consciousness, as a copied consciousness will still perceive itself to be the original.

[czynskee]

Permutation City is a great exploration of this idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permutation_City

[xvector]

Gradual replacement uploads would retain continuity of consciousness