Will we be able to upload brains?

 

"Mind uploading, also known as whole brain emulation (WBE), is the theoretical futuristic process of scanning a physical structure of the brain accurately enough to create an emulation of the mental state (including long-term memory and "self") and transferring or copying it to a computer in a digital form. The computer would then run a simulation of the brain's information processing, such that it would respond in essentially the same way as the original brain and experience having a sentient conscious mind." [source}

This is the stuff of science fiction. I've come across it more than once in Jack McDevitt's books. He writes space mysteries, such as A Talent for War, where Alex Benedict's uncle has disappeared while transiting hyperspace. He has had a simulation prepared so that he can talk to his nephew as though he were still alive, knowing he is about to embark on a very dangerous expedition. In fact, Alex tells the simulation of his uncle that he didn't arrive at his destination. The response is what the living man would have said and done.

It sounds great, doesn't it? A way that we mere flesh and blood beings can live forever. In fact, I wrote a short story on the premise. It's called Into the Dark and you can read it here.

Uploading your brain assumes that brains work the same way computers do, with parts allocated to short term and long term memory with some sort of system to find information. Part of that, for many of us, involves rolling your eyes to the right and up as you think, while mental fingers riffle through a filing cabinet.

But what if brains don't work like that at all?

I recently read a fascinating article about exactly that. It's called The Empty Brain. Warning, it's long. But it debunks the myth of the computer in your skull.

"No matter how hard they try, brain scientists and cognitive psychologists will never find a copy of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the brain – or copies of words, pictures, grammatical rules or any other kinds of environmental stimuli. The human brain isn’t really empty, of course. But it does not contain most of the things people think it does – not even simple things such as ‘memories’."

Sure, we have a lot of things in our brains, features we must be born with in order to survive. Reflexes, instincts, the ability to recognize threats or those (like mothers) most likely to help us. But all that stuff we learn? Speech patterns, words, what things look like? Scientists can't pinpoint any part of the brain where these items are kept. In fact, it's pretty well known that the brain is better at visualising. We've all had the experience of trying to remember someone's name. "I can see what he looks like… but the name…"

Even so, most people aren't very good at visualising even items with which they are very familiar. Can you draw a dollar bill or a dollar coin from memory with any degree of accuracy? Or your credit card? If our brains worked like computers you'd be able to access an image of the object and copy what you see. In fact, I'm very poor at visualising. Some people can conjure up the beach on a sunny day with all the sounds and colours. I can't. I end up describing to myself what it would be like. Some very few people can be shown something for a short time and then draw it from memory with a high degree of accuracy, like Stephen Wiltshire, who can draw city skylines from memory after flying over them. But he is autistic. His brain doesn't work the same way as most of ours. Read his story here.

There's so much more to learn about how our brains – and those of cats and ants and birds – work. I can't see McDevitt's vision of a simulation happening any time soon. 

By the way, don't forget about Smashwords' July sale. You could pick up some great bargains. 

Cheers,

Greta