Question: do you think we can upload our brain to a computer to be like immortal in some years

Harry Piper answered on 24 Mar 2021:

This is a really interesting question, regarding the concept f some sort of virtual, digital afterlife event and is something the entertainment industry have leant into heavily over recent years. Now, uploading a physical matter may be difficult (think Willy Wonka and his teleportation of chocolate around the factory), but the idea of uploading memories is an interesting one. Perhaps the content can be uploaded and used as a sort of matrix – a place where we could look at the experiences of those who have passed on, so maybe this could be used to help us prevent making the same mistakes. However, I had a quick google and an interesting argument popped up! Even if we can upload the content of the brain, will it be possible that the sense of self could also be uploaded, or as I’ve just said, will this be more of a ‘here are some memories’ type of jig. Looking at this from a philosophical perspective, uploading pure content without any kind of soul could be quite traumatising (unless done after death), perhaps the body becomes empty and ‘soulless’. Similarly, if over time the memory content recognises itself as a copy, this could result in an identity crisis. If the self is uploaded, and an individual could be considered immortal, what happens if that data is copied 1000x. You have 1000 self concepts, all of the same person. Which is the true self and does this make you immortal? If you think of a broom, and replace the head, is it the same broom (you still have the original handle)? But what about if later on, you also have to replace the handle – is this a completely new broom? Or is it the original? I’m not sure as to how realistic these ideas are, or even if someone is working on this concept right now! I do know that it has strong ethical implications and that whatever we do, we will need to be careful.