X-Message-Number: 404
From att!ics.uci.edu!share!bcousert%zardoz.uucp Mon Aug 19 08:07:24 PDT 1991
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 91 08:07:24 PDT
From: William Robert Kent Cousert <share!bcousert%>
Message-Id: <9108191507.AA08357@ share >
To: 
Subject: Nano-neurons?

In the book "2001 - A Space Odessy (sp?)" Arthur C. Clarke writes that
in the future, intelligent life will give up biological bodies in favor of
mechanical or electronic bodies. This worries me.
 
Although they may be able to copy the contents of my brain to a computer,
it will not mean immortality. My "soul" (if there is one) will still be in
my brain. Doomed to die when my body does. (the computer will only be a copy of
my mind).

However, I think I have a possible solution: What would happen if nano-
technology were used to build an electrical or mechanical equivalent of a
neuron, complete with whatever information that was stored in it.
The "nano-neuron" would be able to communicate with biological neurons
the same as normal biological neurons.

If each neuron were replaced one at a time over period of, say, several
hundred years, would that allow for the transfer of consciousness
from biological to electronic media?

Perhaps the nano-neurons could have new capabilities that could be turned
on after the transformation has taken place, such as faster processing
speeds and greater storage.

[ Uploading is a controversial topic even among cryonicists, who have talked
  about it a lot and still don't agree about its feasibility.  You may want
  to read the books "Mind Children" by Hans Moravec and/or "Great Mambo
  Chicken" by Ed Regis for discussions of some of the possibilities.
  Your scenario of gradual replacement of wetware with hardware (while
  maintaining continuity of consciousness) sounds quite similar to one of
  Moravec's proposals. - KQB ]

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