• Scientists work on backing up human brain with computers
    48 replies, posted
[QUOTE=007JamesBond007;44127701]Yeah I was expecting to be able to copy my brain onto a hard drive[/QUOTE] This is being worked on. [url]http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-february-25-2014/michio-kaku?xrs=share_copy[/url]
But if you back up your brain and you die, you are no longer "you" in that brain. That is....just another person. But from another person viewpoint, is just the same person. The day we are reeeeally able to "get" into a new body or "keep" our consciousness it will be a great day..
[QUOTE=Lijitsu;44128474]Cybernetics is one thing, but going full on 100% synthetic isn't something I'd really want to do, to be honest.[/QUOTE] But what about a form of "synth" wherein the machinery is so advanced it is essentially organic, like the nanomachine equivalent of living cells, and augmentations are seamlessly plug-and-play to the point you could just slap on a transfer patch and you have a tattoo that calibrates your upper body muscles and makes you stronger in terms of lifting stuff. Kind of like original Deus Ex style nano-augmentation, only every cell in your body is self-replicating nanomachines.
Lame, I expected this: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QheoYw1BKJ4[/media]
[QUOTE=Lijitsu;44128474]Cybernetics is one thing, but going full on 100% synthetic isn't something I'd really want to do, to be honest.[/QUOTE] Assuming the two of us are anything alike, I can understand why. There's the old but very important argument of the consciousness and/or "soul" not carrying over to another body, which I'm sure we'll eventually figure out the trick to solving. And even if consciousness transfer can't be done, one could probably slowly replace parts of their body on anywhere from a macroscopic to a cellular level, until their own body with their own unique consciousness residing within became 100% synthetic. There's also the fear of the unknown and the unfamiliar idea of becoming a machine, but at the rate things are going, pretty much every single positive and neutral aspect of the human body will be replicated in mechanical form with equal or better quality eventually. Along with these positive replications, most of the negative aspects of the organic human body would likely be dropped like a sack of rotten potatoes in the translation. No more susceptibility to disease, no more need to eat food and use a toilet, no more need to breathe, no more permanent loss of original limbs and/or functionality, the list goes on for miles. Also, the human body, like all other life, is pretty much just a machine made of organic parts rather than synthetic ones. Every single piece of the human body, from cells and organs to the brain and limbs, functions along preset guidelines that are set in place at the beginning and are only deviated from if the processes or information guiding them go horribly wrong and/or become corrupted. Even if the materials and mediums of data transfer are completely different, we're still machines in the end, albeit self-replicating ones. A synthetic body would pretty much just be an updated version of the original human body, a patch made to rectify all of the superfluous, detrimental and just plain terrible aspects of the human body, except made by humans rather than evolution and/or a deity. A synthetic body that could keep all of the good features of the organic version while ditching the bad parts and improving everything possible would be absolutely, mind-bogglingly amazing. Basically, once we have the technology to replicate senses and other positive functions and pieces of the human body with good accuracy and possibly even significant improvement, a synthetic body would be a straight upgrade from the organic body we're born with. It's a bit like evolution and/or whatever deity made us is the slowest game developer ever with "meh" quality assurance, and we're so sick of it not fixing the obvious bugs that we're eventually going to do it ourselves. We're basically becoming modders of the hardware and software that is our own bodies, on the level of the sorts of people who make massive, wonderful gameplay overhauls for games with decent but not great gameplay. An organic body is nice and all, and I can understand completely why you'd be uncomfortable with swapping it out for the synthetic version. However, I personally think a synthetic body would be nothing less than a complete and total upgrade upon the original organic version in every possible respect.
Genious idea: Clone yourself, get old, die. When you die, you transfer that part of your brain which gives you consciousness to your new fresh twenty year old clone. You will live forever!
[QUOTE=dannass;44129054]Genious idea: Clone yourself, get old, die. When you die, you transfer that part of your brain which gives you consciousness to your new fresh twenty year old clone. You will live forever![/QUOTE] Or just switch to a mechanical body that will take much, much longer to decay and can be fixed so easily that full replacement will typically be unnecessary. Sorry, I'm really on a kick with the whole humans-becoming-mechanical thing. Shit's amazing to think about, and from my perspective it seems ten times better, more useful on the whole, and less resource-draining than cloning. Needless to say, I'll probably die a stupid and robotics-related death some day. Probably trying to hug a Terminator, rather than blowing it up like a sane man.
[QUOTE=ASIC;44128383]Eastern birth rates?[/QUOTE] Basically the only groups we could count on actually populating the worlds we settle tend to burn people for witchcraft, throw acid in women's faces or can't seem to stop raping people.
[QUOTE=ironman17;44127738]Personally I'm still waiting for "nano-conversion" in terms of "backing up the brain", since backing things up only stores the data and doesn't preserve the active subroutines, which is the heart of consciousness. By nano-conversion, I mean using nanomachines (son) to convert brain cells into biomechanical self-repairing microprocessors, meaning the resultant machine-brain would in theory be able to live forever and not decay like regular meat-brains, in addition to keeping all those subroutines running so that you're you as opposed to a clone that has your memories and personalities and mannerisms but not your "soul".[/QUOTE] yeah, even if you could somehow back up your memories and then put them in another brain it would only benefit the people you interact with, because if the original died you would just stay dead, but everybody else would get to continue having a new copy around that just happens to have the same memories - they'd be you in a sense (they'd think they're you and everybody else would too) but they're not really [I]you[/I]
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;44129240]Basically the only groups we could count on actually populating the worlds we settle tend to burn people for witchcraft, throw acid in women's faces or can't seem to stop raping people.[/QUOTE] but the west has always had a drive to go places and have sex there... i mean like when we start sending men and women to the moon, they will inevitably have sex there, there's alegidly been coupling on the ISS and its cousin Mir
the fragility of our brain tissue is really disheartening
america's frontiers were explored for the sole purpose of having sex there, women went with all the mighty ships that braved the north pole and the south pole
So long as my consciousness goes along with the data as-well, I'm fine with this.
[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;44129295]yeah, even if you could somehow back up your memories and then put them in another brain it would only benefit the people you interact with, because if the original died you would just stay dead, but everybody else would get to continue having a new copy around that just happens to have the same memories - they'd be you in a sense (they'd think they're you and everybody else would too) but they're not really [I]you[/I][/QUOTE] Too true brotha. Personally I'm hoping that we develop an intermediary life-extension tech that can ensure that we can stay alive in time for nanosynth to transform our flesh into something more durable and persistent, allowing us to break free from the limitations of mortality without turning into the all-devouring Tyranids. In other words, break free of the rules of nature and become our own masters with nanomachines, son. That tech could seriously help us wreak revengenace upon death in the future, with actual deaths being caused by accidents and violence rather than something as pathetic and petty as a disease or genetic decay.
[QUOTE=Sableye;44129303]but the west has always had a drive to go places and have sex there... i mean like when we start sending men and women to the moon, they will inevitably have sex there, there's alegidly been coupling on the ISS and its cousin Mir[/QUOTE] Sex =/= having kids anymore.
[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;44129307]the fragility of our brain tissue is really disheartening[/QUOTE] It is if you look at it as an unfixable problem that will persist until either our species dies, or the universe dies. However, if you look at our genetics/biological tech development and our robotics progress, you'll see that we're slowly but certainly getting closer to solving this problem, as well as many other problems with our bodies. No matter what, unless we die out before managing to solve the problem, we'll have a way to remove or go around the obstacle of having delicate bodies. We'll either solve the issues of our bodies through improving the biology using organic sciences and/or genetics, combining what's already there with machines, or going all out and doing full synthetic replacement. Possibly a combination of the three, even. People can complain about a lack of space travel and busty alien chicks in this era all they want, with understandable reason. The thing is though, chances are most of us are gonna live to see a new version of humanity emerge, organic, synthetic, both or something unexpected. Some of us might even get lucky and make their ancestors posthumously jealous as fuck by defying aging to a degree, possibly even rising fully above its influence. This is a good era to live in, even if further-off eras will be better. Only way we'll get there though, is through doing the two main things our species does best; Constantly improving ourselves/our lives and flipping the bird to every law and obstacle that all other known life faces, all in favor of being as awesome as the universe can possibly handle us being without exploding like a Michael Bay movie made entirely of nitroglycerin. Things are only gonna get better in the long run, even if bad shit goes down often on a smaller scale in the short term, so get ready for it.
Headline made me think Pensieve. Actual article reads more like "put more cores on it!"
Is anyone else here thinking about Cortex Command?
soon.... [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jTlf3fS.gif[/IMG]
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