X-Message-Number: 3799
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 15:01:59 -0600 (CST)
From: Ken Wolfe <>
Subject: Re: #3792 Uploading

In message 3792, Thomas Donaldson urges those who express enthusiasm for 
the idea of uploading to be much more specific about the sort of machines 
they expect to be uploaded into.  I would have to agree.  I would add to 
that the need to be very specific about the uploading process itself.  

I have been reading the article The Anatomical Basis Of Mind by Ben Best, 
now being published in Canadian Cryonics News.  It is giving me a much 
better feeling for how the function of the brain can depend upon 
subtleties of the chemical environment that neurons find themselves in, 
and many other factors that usually get ignored in computer simulation of 
neuron fuction.  For example, many neurotransmitters act more like 
hormontes, potentially affecting many, many neurons over a wide area.  I 
am not saying that something like this is a show-stopper for uploading; 
what I would like to suggest is that a far, far better understanding of 
brain function is required before we can even begin to talk about what 
sort of machine would be suitable for uploading.

As for the method of uploading, I am stull uncomfortable with any plan 
that claims to upload my identity into something else all at once while I 
am unconscious.  The process whould have to be a gradual or piecemeal one 
that can happen while I am awake before I would really be convinced that 
it is viable.

For now, I would still wish to have a label on my dewar saying No 
Uploading Please!  

Best regards,

Ken Wolfe                    |  Fax:        I hate fax machines
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada   |  Compu$erve: 
        |  GEnie:      



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