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2012-07-26T17:48:53Z

Created page with 'Category:Technology Memories are encoded within the physical structure of the brain on the molecular level. Uploading is the process of copying all this information into a di…'

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[[Category:Technology]]
Memories are encoded within the physical structure
of the brain on the molecular level. Uploading is the
process of copying all this information into a digital form.
These upload recordings can be used to create a mind
emulation, a computer program that, when run on a sufficiently
potent computer, emulates the workings of the
original person’s mind.

A mind emulation is not merely a recording, but a
conscious, self-aware, working digital model of the way
a particular living being’s brain functions. This requires
simulating much of the rest of the body and its environment
as well: “naked consciousness” bereft of context
rapidly becomes insane.

Mind emulations can be housed in computers contained
within bioshells or cybershells. Those without
mobile bodies inhabit virtual reality simulations of, at
minimum, a room. They are often permitted to access the
wider Web itself, allowing them to partake of online virtual
realities.

Emulations are usually made of human minds, but
animals can be emulated. The legal status of human mind
emulations varies between nations: some treat them as
artificial intelligences, others as people. There are three
types of mind emulation:
===Ghost===
A “ghost” is created via a destructive uploading (or
“brainpeeling”) process. A living or newly dead patient (or
his severed head) is placed into nanostasis. The brain is
removed and carefully sliced by robotic surgeons into multiple
tiny segments. Each segment is then scanned by a
hypersensitive magnetic resonance imager (HyMRI) or
other instrument. The data is used to create a digital reconstruction
of the patient’s brain configuration, called a
ghost.

Brainpeeling is fatal to the original person, so ghosts
are controversial. Is it suicide or transcendence? A ghost
is a perfect mind emulation, mentally indistinguishable
from the original person. Whether it is a “human
being” remains in question. People and religions that
believe in souls differ on whether ghosts have them.
Ghosts require a great deal of computer power to run,
equivalent to a sapient AI, but current computers are
sophisticated enough that a ghost can be built into a computer
small enough to be implanted in a brain.

Most ghosts are the product of individuals who deliberately
underwent destructive uploading in order to obtain
a form of immortality, often out of a desire to live as a
posthuman entity in a superhuman cybershell body or
series of bodies. Ghosts have certain advantages: for
example, they allow rapid travel across the solar system
and beyond, if a receiving station has been set up. Ghosts
are also cheaper than full-scale cellular rejuvenation technology.
Perhaps most significantly, a ghost can be copied
indefinitely. It is against the law in nearly all nations for a
person to exist as more than one conscious ghost, but it is
legal to create backups of the original or the ghost’s current
state. Copying either is as simple as copying any other
computer program: each backup requires hundreds of terabytes
of storage, but that is easy to come by.

The big drawback of ghosts is the question of whether
it’s really you or just something that thinks it is. The other
drawback is that uploading is a complex medical procedure,
and once in a while, the operation fails. This usually
results in a badly flawed copy or no copy at all.
===Fragment===
A “fragment” results from a failed attempt to create a
ghost. It has little or no memory of its past existence, but
may retain vestiges of its original personality and skills.
Fragments are often produced when attempting to
destructively upload a person who, after dying, was not
immediately placed in nanostasis. If he was frozen using
older cryonics techniques, or there was a delay of several
minutes or more, then there is a high likelihood of retrieving
only a fragment rather than a ghost. In areas where
ghosts are treated like people, fragments are treated like
people with mental illness or amnesia.
===Shadow===
Shadows have all the advantages of ghosts, can be
run on less powerful computers, and take up less data
storage space. They have one big disadvantage: it is clear
they aren’t quite identical to the original.

Shadows are generally created through a nondestructive
mind emulation process (“brainscanning”). This
process uses nanoprobe monitoring to provide data for a
computer model. A shadow is basically a low-sapient AI
that has been taught to behave like a person. (A sapient AI
has already become a person.) Editing a ghost or fragment
can also produce a shadow. This is as much an art
as a science, but it will generally produce a more compressed
copy suitable for running on a less powerful
system.

Shadows are legal in most blocs except the Islamic
Caliphate, but are generally treated as property rather
than actual people. Multiple copying of shadows is legal
in some areas, strongly regulated in others.

Uploading and Mind Emulation - Revision history

Ecb: Created page with 'Category:Technology Memories are encoded within the physical structure of the brain on the molecular level. Uploading is the process of copying all this information into a di…'