Quote from: protokol on January 12, 2017, 12:50:22 AM

Quote from: debtstack on January 11, 2017, 12:36:56 AM

Quote from: Deep BTC on January 10, 2017, 11:58:57 PM

What do you think about immortality? Will people find immortality in the future?
Is it possible to transfer a digital copy of the brain to a computer environment?

Immortality in the sense of a digital copy is not true immortality. It is more along the lines of cloning. For instance, think of an organic human as a vinyl record and the digital copy as an mp3. For the most part you can say there is no distinguishing differences yet, the mp3 does not log all the dings, scratches and every other error present in the original. Just as when you copy any file on a computer it is not the original file, but a copy.

If your goal is to continue yourself from the state you were at when you died, then yes, that will suffice. The problem is, it isn't you. You still died. So you feel nothing. Your copy is what will experience the world after you die. Just as when you make a clone of say a dog, you know it is not your actual dog, but a clone of it. There is no difference from a dog and a person when you are copying its data. Both had an original and both have a copy.

The main problem is how we are created. Humans as they are now will never be immortal. But, if you follow the beliefs of tranhumanism, eventually humanity and technology will meld together until there is a point where there is no distinguishing difference between the two. Those of us born before that time will be doomed to die. After that phase though, humans will be created in a digital environment, so technically they would live forever as they do not have to deal with organic flaws. They would also not be classified as Homo Sapiens, or from the viewpoint of some, not human at all.

Also, I've always thought that if reincarnation is real then there is no reason to find immortality. You technically already are. You just don't stay in the same state forever. Which sounds more fun than watching the world pass by as the same person or thing.

I agree, the idea of copying the human consciousness into a machine/digital copy would result in the original human carrying on with it's own life, and the copy continuing life as a clone with a separate consciousness.

But perhaps, in the future, there might be a way to "transfer" the organic brain's memories and consciousness into the digital version, in a seamless transfer which results in the original human transgressing to the digital state with no loss of conscious awareness. As if they "became" the digital version and carried on their life experience from there... Who knows?

It reminds me of this excellent music video by LORN, which depicts a girl transferring her consciousness to a radical virtual "social media" world, where she will live on after her death in the real world. It has amazing animation, proper cyberpunk style shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqaAs_3azSs

This kind of work is being done. They are trying to figure out exactly how the human brain works. At the same time, They want to model the human brain in an exact same way.

https://www.humanbrainproject.eu