Re: Uploading
Chris Hind (chind@juno.com)
Mon, 04 Nov 1996 16:08:12 -0800
>Suppose I show you 2 people, you talk and get to know them, then I then take
>them away and upload them. One I Upload very gradually under conditions you
>would consider ideal, the other one I upload instantaneously with my gamma
ray
>pulse laser. Now I show you the 2 uploads and let you ask them any question
>and perform any test you like. Is there any way you could determine which
one
>was uploaded quickly and which one was not? If the Scientific Method can not
>find any difference we must conclude that there is no difference, or we will
>sink into the swamp of metaphysics and superstition.
Unfortunetly the part about sinking into the swamp of metaphysics and
superstition is true. Probably most people will go the way of the gradual
incremental upload due to the fact that people are already thinking about
designing augmentation tools (ie. genetic augmentations for when
genengineering improves, and chips such as British Telecom's vision
recording chip). Also we can pretty-much assume that the tools or knowledge
necessary to detect an individual stream of consciousness will be around
when uploading comes about.