Thread: idk if I'm in the right place

I have this idea I can't get out of my head.So realize your entire existence is a combination of billions upon billions of electric signals, and that one day. We will be able to download store and upload at will. True immortality. And all we have to do is make a computer that can:1. Store more information than you can fathom. (2.5 petabytes)2. Compute the same (or exceed) the power of the human brain. (10 quadrillion instructions per second)Since We are basically information (if we had a device that could store) we could store are brain on a hard drive, slap a label "Justin" and store us on a shelf. But since we are data now. We can be transmitted at the speed of light. (Radio waves and such). Take my brain stream it to a rocket ship a billion miles away that we launched 600 years ago. I upload myself to a surrogate body and bam we have interstellar space travel.thoughts ?!

This is the basis of much science fiction. Will it become possible one day? Who knows.

One problem is that much of what goes on in the brain isn't electrical. It is physical (connectivity) and chemical (neurotransmitters, gene expression within cells, etc).

Maybe it is possible to take a complete snapshot of the entire physical, electrical and chemical structure of the brain. Or maybe, if this cannot be done perfectly, you end up with a scrambled (at best insane, possibly dead) version of the individual.

And then you are left with the problem you have copied the individual. Which one is the real you?

Perhaps in that 600 year span, using a craft designed with advanced technology, we might pass that ship somewhere along its path.

Originally Posted by hochmuth27697

I have this idea I can't get out of my head.So realize your entire existence is a combination of billions upon billions of electric signals, and that one day. We will be able to download store and upload at will. True immortality. And all we have to do is make a computer that can:1. Store more information than you can fathom. (2.5 petabytes)2. Compute the same (or exceed) the power of the human brain. (10 quadrillion instructions per second)Since We are basically information (if we had a device that could store) we could store are brain on a hard drive, slap a label "Justin" and store us on a shelf. But since we are data now. We can be transmitted at the speed of light. (Radio waves and such). Take my brain stream it to a rocket ship a billion miles away that we launched 600 years ago. I upload myself to a surrogate body and bam we have interstellar space travel.thoughts ?!

It might be possible to run a simulated brain with a beginning state copied exactly from a living source.

Thing about this is the same as there would be if we ever invented real teleportation devices. The you that comes out on the other end might act, think and even feel like you, but there won't be a connected stream of consciousness between you and it. From your perspective you would simply die.

On the other hand, that is kind of what happens each night we go to sleep. We fall asleep and then wake up the next morning, but for all we know, we could have been swapped with a clone with a copied brain. So some people might be ok with it, if you think about it that way.

PS: There is a movie coming out with a similar premise: Transcendence Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Johnny Depp Sci-Fi Movie HD - YouTube

I've had thoughts like this many times. It's cool to see everybody else's take on it.

I've heard of this idea before. In fact, Stephen Hawking even talks about it, so it's not that outlandish.
Stephen Hawking: Brains Could Be Copied To Computers To Allow Life After Death

But I still don't think it would work. I think all you would get is another copy of yourself - essentially a clone with a data bank of all your thoughts and experiences. I can't see it really resulting in a transfer of your consciousness.

It might still be useful to upload Stephen Hawking's brain to a computer to have all his knowledge and skills in a box, so to speak, but I don't think he's going to actually be in there. But then, how would we know?

(Of course, if consciousness itself is actually an illusion, then nothing I've just said really matters one way or the other.)