brain uploading

[zusa]

Hi there I have q couple of question about brain uploading. When one day we will be able to do it, is there any preparatory work that needs to be done just before the upload (in whatever way it is done) can start? I mean,different area of the brain are associated with different activities, so is it right to say that if a subject wants to have his/her brain uploaded he/she needs to engage in a range of activities whilst the brain is being uploaded? SO things like, reading, making calculation, completing a puzzle, resolving a riddle, attempting to translate something in another language and so on to stimulate and therefore "record" or scan if you prefer certain areas of the brain?
thanks

 

[koshling]

Hi there I have q couple of question about brain uploading. When one day we will be able to do it, is there any preparatory work that needs to be done just before the upload (in whatever way it is done) can start? I mean,different area of the brain are associated with different activities, so is it right to say that if a subject wants to have his/her brain uploaded he/she needs to engage in a range of activities whilst the brain is being uploaded? SO things like, reading, making calculation, completing a puzzle, resolving a riddle, attempting to translate something in another language and so on to stimulate and therefore "record" or scan if you prefer certain areas of the brain?
thanks

If the resolution/technique behind the scan requires activation for fedelity good luck with coming out the other side! If nothing else (even if you could somehow perform exercises that activated every necessary pathway) the lack of temporal synchronization between different parts of the scan would almost certainly render the result useless.

 

[zusa]

Hi koshling,
thanks for your post. Sorry I am not entirely sure what you mean, would you be able to clarify? What I meant in my post is that if you could somehow stimulate the area of the brain that has to do with say, logic (if there is such a thing) by giving the subject a logic problem to solve and the person who is performing the scanner does exactly know which area of the brain will be activated with that test, would that yield usable information as far as the brain scanning is concerned?
Or perhaps we can put it this way: assume we have the capability of scanning all the brain at the same time, without using separate scan (which can easily add up to billions) would it help if we get the subject to get involved in any activity that we think might stimulate different areas of the brain or could we scan it as it is (without sounding too sci-fi!)
thanks

 

[SMOGZINN]

I guess that would matter on how that scan works and what you are hoping to get out of it. Just want to map the neuron connections of the brain? Then that could be done with a MRI of sufficient resolution. Out of our current technological capability, but not so far out that we can't figure out what such a machine would need.

If you want record memory and thought process, well that is a little harder to know. It seems that a whole lot of memory might be chemically stored. If so then you need some machine that can detect the individual chemical bonds found around the dendrites. Much harder thing to do, but I still don’t think it would be helpful to activate the thought process associated with that area, it is still just bonds that exist that need to be recorded.

But if the brain stores memory in a more exotic way, who it to say? Maybe it requires more exotic methods to record it. Or perhaps they figure out a way to read the electrical signals that accompany they chemical bonds being activated and can record them when activated (still, you would have to have someone remember everything they ever knew)

Overall, for full brain scans for brain uploading I can't see it being useful to have the subject be active in any way. Probably more likely that they would be better off being put in an artificial coma to minimize new experiences during the process that could cause a never ending feedback loop.