What’s the Likelihood of the Singularity? Part Two: Uploading the Brain

 

This is the second part of my look at Charlie Stross’ three arguments against the Singularity. You can read part one here and part three here.

The second aspect of the Singularity that Stross takes a look at in his anti-Singularity arguments is the prospect of uploading the brain into a computer,which is a popular means in speculative fiction for a type of immortality. For three excellent fictional examples, see Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, or Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon. For a very bad one, see the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Schizoid Man.” In essence, though, the idea is that your memories, personality and “soul” if you will can be uploaded into a computer, then transferred to a robot body, a cloned body, a simulated environment, or whatever.

Read More: http://blogs.forbes.com/alexknapp/2011/06/24/whats-the-likelihood-of-the-singularity-part-two-uploading-the-brain/