Thoughts on Longevity, mind transplants and uploads.

Here is an interesting question: What happens when you die?

Okay, that's a bit unfair of me since, obviously, no one knows. Many people have many thoughts on the subject but there are no hard answers (note that I'm intentionally ignoring suppositions derived from conjectures proposed in ancient texts---strange how we don't seem to believe that anyone wrote fiction thousands of years ago...). Anyway, the answer to this question may change in the coming centuries, with several possibilities that are not presently available to us.

The future possibilities, discussed by science fiction writers and other futurists, include such ideas as: transferring your neural pattern into a cloned body (with appropriate neural growth supplements), uploading an algorithm representing your mind (derived from your neural pattern) into a virtual reality or a robot body--it's been estimated that this would require five petabytes (10^15 bytes) of storage space and thus should become theoretically possible within a few decades. Other, even more futuristic thoughts involve 'mapping' our minds directly onto space and living as beings of thought and energy.

These all present one (for the purposes of this blog) interesting problem, however. What is the true nature of the upload?

Problems could arise if an 'upload' is created prior to the biological death of the individual (imagine: not just identity theft, but personality piracy). But I'm interested in the idea of what exactly happens to YOU the person.

From a third person POV, you would continue on, the same as you ever were (baring limitations of the technology) and there is really no question of identity. However, from a first person POV, it is my opinion that you would still die the biological death. The person you are, and you experience, the mind that looks out to the world through your eyes, would be no more. Another being with the same memories and thoughts would then be born in the other 'matrix'. You, however, as you define yourself right now, would cease to exist.

That's my gut reaction, thinking of the situation as one of copying the individual. The original is still lost (at least to itself), regardless of how good the copy is. However, another possibility complicates things. You could maintain 'your' persona and gain longevity by replacing your body with one that doesn't die. I think there is no question that that would still be 'you'.

Now, what if you began replacing parts of your brain. Piece by piece you convert your brain to a cybernetic and then completely inorganic 'organ'. Now, what used to house your mind, your being, no longer exists. But is this similar to an upload? At first glance it doesn't seem so and yet, the ultimate fate appears essentially the same. So where does this leave us with regards to the state of your identity? Very confused, I think.

EH Rydberg