[skyhook_mockups]

I agree with you that an more abstract understanding would be more useful than a naive copy, however I think calling it "pointless" is a bit of an exaggeration. Imagine being able to make an indistinguishable 1:1 copy of your own brain at the exact moment at which you die, voilà immortality. Tad Williams wrote an interesting bit of fiction about exactly this called the Otherland series - well worth a read.

Not to mention that simply building such a copy would yield its own set of insights.

[andreasvc]

I'm afraid 1:1 brain copies will stay in the realm of science fiction, so it's not an exaggeration. This paper provides some more food for thought on my position: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/coli.2009.35...