Science fiction has long played with the notion that a futuristic society will have figured out the necessary technology to enable the transfer of a person's mind to a storage device where that person can live forever.
Can a person's mind be uploaded into a machine? Is it even plausible to consider such an idea? How would one do it? Can it be done?
I'm here to tell you that, yes, it can be done. You can indeed transfer the identity of a person into a computer. In this series of articles I will explain how to do it.
Can a person's mind be uploaded into a machine? Is it even plausible to consider such an idea? How would one do it? Can it be done?
I'm here to tell you that, yes, it can be done. You can indeed transfer the identity of a person into a computer. In this series of articles I will explain how to do it.
Who Are You?
But before getting into the "how", we first need to understand a few things about the human mind. For example, let's say we want to transfer your mind to a computer so you can live there forever. What part of you should be transferred? What makes you, you? What is you? Who are you?
We need a clear language to describe what makes you, you. Therefore, I will label the part of the mind that is you, "the you". The you is the mind that is currently reading this. The you is what you like, dislike, believe, not believe, your character, etc. The you, is not the physical body, only the mind. The you is what other people accept as, you. It's what makes you, you. In other words, it's your mind. It's who you are.
We need a clear language to describe what makes you, you. Therefore, I will label the part of the mind that is you, "the you". The you is the mind that is currently reading this. The you is what you like, dislike, believe, not believe, your character, etc. The you, is not the physical body, only the mind. The you is what other people accept as, you. It's what makes you, you. In other words, it's your mind. It's who you are.
What About the Physical Body?
The role of your physical body is simply to interact with the external world and then relay back the information to the mind. The body is basically a sensing machine that captures information from the external world through the five senses: touch, smell, hearing, tasting and seeing.
The information is sent to the brain which them becomes accessible to the mind. So another way to say it is that, the mind will interact with the external world through the use of the physical body. The brain acts as the intermediary. So the brain is the interface between the physical body and the mind.
This is a good time to clarify the distinction between brain and mind. The brain is the physical object that sits in your head, while the mind is the non-tangible thinking part.
A short recap. The physical body senses the external world and then transfers that information to the mind via the brain.
The information is sent to the brain which them becomes accessible to the mind. So another way to say it is that, the mind will interact with the external world through the use of the physical body. The brain acts as the intermediary. So the brain is the interface between the physical body and the mind.
This is a good time to clarify the distinction between brain and mind. The brain is the physical object that sits in your head, while the mind is the non-tangible thinking part.
A short recap. The physical body senses the external world and then transfers that information to the mind via the brain.
The Three Units Of The Mind
As your mind receives the sensory data from your brain, it starts to process the information through its three units. They are: 1) your Belief System, 2) your Perception Of Reality and 3) your Emotions. There are also 2 other units called Attachment and Fear, but for now, we will leave them out of the discussion.
What makes you a unique individual, a unique mind, is contained in these units. Therefore to transfer your mind into a computer, we need to transfer the mind's units. The good news is that you don't actually need all three units to re-create the you in a computer, you only need to transfer one unit. Can you guess which one? Probably not at this point, so let me continue...
How Your Mind Creates The You
Once your mind has received the data from the brain, it starts to process it through the units. This is where things start to get interesting.
You would guess that your mind will observe the external world as described by your physical body, right? Well, no. Your mind does not see the external world as it is but rather it creates its own interpretation of it. This is an extremely important concept so I will say it again. Your mind does not see the actual objective external world but rather it creates its own internal subjective interpretation of it.
This is a fundamental tenant of many philosophies, religions and spiritual teachings and one of the first steps to awakening. In fact, Marcus Aurelius wrote almost 2000 years ago "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth".
You would guess that your mind will observe the external world as described by your physical body, right? Well, no. Your mind does not see the external world as it is but rather it creates its own interpretation of it. This is an extremely important concept so I will say it again. Your mind does not see the actual objective external world but rather it creates its own internal subjective interpretation of it.
This is a fundamental tenant of many philosophies, religions and spiritual teachings and one of the first steps to awakening. In fact, Marcus Aurelius wrote almost 2000 years ago "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth".
Perception Of Reality
This subjective internal interpretation of the external world is called your Perception Of Reality. You don't actually experience the external world as it is, but rather you experience your own unique Perception of it. Your Perception is your Reality.
In fact, no two people on the planet will ever have the same Perception of Reality even though they may be experiencing the same external world. Everyone has a different Perception and therefore everyone has a different Reality. Even when the external world is the same.
This topic deserves a bit more attention because your Perception Of Reality is what makes the you. No one else Perceives reality quite like you do. So when we want to transfer the you into a computer, your method of Perception is the unit that will actually be transferred.
Transferring the you to a computer is equivalent to transferring the database of your methods of Perception Of Reality. Don't worry if you don't understand this concept yet. I will break it down into detail and show you that there's only one unit of the mind that captures your method of Perception and that unit is the only one that needs to be transferred.
In fact, no two people on the planet will ever have the same Perception of Reality even though they may be experiencing the same external world. Everyone has a different Perception and therefore everyone has a different Reality. Even when the external world is the same.
This topic deserves a bit more attention because your Perception Of Reality is what makes the you. No one else Perceives reality quite like you do. So when we want to transfer the you into a computer, your method of Perception is the unit that will actually be transferred.
Transferring the you to a computer is equivalent to transferring the database of your methods of Perception Of Reality. Don't worry if you don't understand this concept yet. I will break it down into detail and show you that there's only one unit of the mind that captures your method of Perception and that unit is the only one that needs to be transferred.
Example Of Perception Of Reality
As an example of Perception Of Reality, let's imagine that you are watching a sporting event on TV at your friend's house. Both of you are seeing and hearing the same event on the screen. Your bodies are sensing the same external world because you are in the same room watching the same event. So both physical bodies are sending the same data to each respective brain. When the brains then transfer that information to each mind, things start to go in different directions.
Although you are both experiencing the same external event, each of you however, is creating a different Perception of that reality. You Believe that team A should win the game, therefore your Perception Of Reality is biased and your Emotions, depending on the outcome, will reflect that. Your friend Believes that team B should win and so his Perception Of Reality and consequently his Emotions will be different than your own. Now imagine that a third person is also present in the room but Believes that the sport is not interesting and therefore his Perception Of Reality and Emotions will be different than both of your's.
So even though there is only one external reality, the sporting event, there are as many Perceptions Of that event as there are people.
Every single person on this planet has a different Perception Of Reality because no two people have the same collection of Beliefs and therefore no two people will generate the same exact Emotion regardless of the External Event.
Although you are both experiencing the same external event, each of you however, is creating a different Perception of that reality. You Believe that team A should win the game, therefore your Perception Of Reality is biased and your Emotions, depending on the outcome, will reflect that. Your friend Believes that team B should win and so his Perception Of Reality and consequently his Emotions will be different than your own. Now imagine that a third person is also present in the room but Believes that the sport is not interesting and therefore his Perception Of Reality and Emotions will be different than both of your's.
So even though there is only one external reality, the sporting event, there are as many Perceptions Of that event as there are people.
Every single person on this planet has a different Perception Of Reality because no two people have the same collection of Beliefs and therefore no two people will generate the same exact Emotion regardless of the External Event.
To Be Continued...
In Part 2, I will examine each of the mind's units separately in order to understand which of the units is actually responsible for the creation of the you. Then I will show you how to transfer that unit into a computer to re-create the you.