X-Message-Number: 33418
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2011 12:03:47 -0700
Subject: Re: more on uploading
From: Keith Henson <>

On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 3:00 AM,  wrote:

> Mike Perry says that a simulation of a computation is a computation, and
> not unimportant. I say it is unimportant in the same sense that a copy of a
> map is unimportant--not really affecting the general rule that  a
> description of a thing is not that thing.
>
> As to quantum computation, there are many unanswered questions.
>
> As to the suggested universal character of symbolism, that also remains
> speculation. Not that I'm against speculation, but it needs to be kept in
> perspective. And never forget that the symbolism is CODED, requiring

> interpretation.  In general, a set of symbols does not have a unique  
interpretation.
>
I am not sure these objections make sense in practical terms.  Back
last Oct I wrote:

"While I am sympathetic with Bob Ettinger case that uploading can't
happen, what do we do with the case of downloading back into a human?

"If uploading is possible at all, then the reverse process should be no harder.

"Assume a person is uploaded, and their body and brain shut down.
(Because of a "one version at a time" law.)  Then some time from hours
to years later, the state of their brain is updated with the current
information from their uploaded version, their body warmed up and they
go for a walk with the memories and skills they acquired in the
uploaded state.

"Are the memories they have of their time being an upload legitimate?

Like Bob, I find Hans Moravec's destructive uploading distasteful.
But for the clinic seed story, I had to give a lot of thought to the
problem.  It seems that nanomachines can be so much smaller than nerve
cells that (eventually) we could infiltrate a brain with them and
extract not only structure (connections) but learn the process of
every nerve cell and synapse.

An external swarm of computers could duplicate the process--which
looks to me like an upload.

Bob, would some of your objections go away if *every step* in the
uploading could be reversed?

Keith

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