Thanks for writing this post. I completely agree that trying to fight involuntary death is a great idea.
A few thoughts:
In my view, recording an external mindfile (what I see/hear/say) is not nearly sufficient. Most of the information I value isn’t what I see, but how I react to it, such as the unique patterns of neural activation, the associations my brain makes, and the subtle emotional colorings. A video of me watching a game of bridge tells you nothing about why that particular card game reminded me of my grandparents, or how it shifted my mood in ways I couldn’t even articulate.
There’s a huge difference between recording outputs and preserving the computational substrate that generates those outputs. It’s like trying to recreate an AI model by saving only a relatively small amount of its chat logs. You’d be missing the actual architecture that makes it that particular system. (Now, if we could get enough behavioral data, maybe we could theoretically reverse-engineer the underlying computation. But we’re talking about orders of magnitude more data than what AR glasses and EEG caps will give us. You’d need the internal states, not just the outputs. In my view, your “portable advanced EEG” in the 2030s clearly won’t capture individual synaptic connection strengths or the molecular-level information that likely matters for long-term memories and personality.)
I would recommend reading or at least skimming the whole brain emulation roadmap, which you said you’re planning to do. It’s more about building an emulation on the basis of scanning a preserved brain.
Please email me if you’re interested in discussing this more. Maybe I’m wrong about something—if so, I would love it if you could prove me wrong. I’m very glad you’re interested in this space!
I think you’re very right here. I’ve spent quite a lot of time trying to sort through the “Why” of Immortalism, but the “How” is the actual interesting + hard part.
The most exposure I’ve gotten into this space is Seung’s “Connectome”. I will get smart on some more of the latest (will read through Whole Brain Emulation roadmap) and will email you for sure!
Thanks for writing this post. I completely agree that trying to fight involuntary death is a great idea.
A few thoughts:
In my view, recording an external mindfile (what I see/hear/say) is not nearly sufficient. Most of the information I value isn’t what I see, but how I react to it, such as the unique patterns of neural activation, the associations my brain makes, and the subtle emotional colorings. A video of me watching a game of bridge tells you nothing about why that particular card game reminded me of my grandparents, or how it shifted my mood in ways I couldn’t even articulate.
There’s a huge difference between recording outputs and preserving the computational substrate that generates those outputs. It’s like trying to recreate an AI model by saving only a relatively small amount of its chat logs. You’d be missing the actual architecture that makes it that particular system. (Now, if we could get enough behavioral data, maybe we could theoretically reverse-engineer the underlying computation. But we’re talking about orders of magnitude more data than what AR glasses and EEG caps will give us. You’d need the internal states, not just the outputs. In my view, your “portable advanced EEG” in the 2030s clearly won’t capture individual synaptic connection strengths or the molecular-level information that likely matters for long-term memories and personality.)
I would recommend reading or at least skimming the whole brain emulation roadmap, which you said you’re planning to do. It’s more about building an emulation on the basis of scanning a preserved brain.
For myself, I am focused on structural brain preservation, which I believe can address this problem well. I think we need to preserve the connectome and the physical instantiation of memory and personality, which could potentially allow for revival with the benefit of future technology. For a recent intro to this topic, see: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medical-technology/articles/10.3389/fmedt.2024.1400615/full
Please email me if you’re interested in discussing this more. Maybe I’m wrong about something—if so, I would love it if you could prove me wrong. I’m very glad you’re interested in this space!
I think you’re very right here. I’ve spent quite a lot of time trying to sort through the “Why” of Immortalism, but the “How” is the actual interesting + hard part.
The most exposure I’ve gotten into this space is Seung’s “Connectome”. I will get smart on some more of the latest (will read through Whole Brain Emulation roadmap) and will email you for sure!