I wanted to do research that would have practical implications for the human condition, and I thought working on genetic diseases was the best way to do that. Various lesswrong memes convinced me that working toward uploading by advancing neuroscience was a better alternative. Also, the exposure to cognitive science on LW and the idea that human intelligence is the Most Important Thing made neuroscience seem a lot more interesting. I can’t say much about the comparison, since I changed my plans while still in high school, but I’m glad I did it. For one thing, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have discovered how much I love to code.
Maybe sometime before I die of old age, if I’m very lucky, or sufficiently shortly afterward that it’s worth getting cryonics and hoping. Probably sometime within the next 100-200 years, if something else doesn’t make it unnecessary by then.
I wanted to do research that would have practical implications for the human condition, and I thought working on genetic diseases was the best way to do that. Various lesswrong memes convinced me that working toward uploading by advancing neuroscience was a better alternative. Also, the exposure to cognitive science on LW and the idea that human intelligence is the Most Important Thing made neuroscience seem a lot more interesting. I can’t say much about the comparison, since I changed my plans while still in high school, but I’m glad I did it. For one thing, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have discovered how much I love to code.
In what kind of timeframe do you consider uploading to be relevant?
Maybe sometime before I die of old age, if I’m very lucky, or sufficiently shortly afterward that it’s worth getting cryonics and hoping. Probably sometime within the next 100-200 years, if something else doesn’t make it unnecessary by then.