[MURG] new Road Map draft

[cat13 at illrepute.org]

"king-yin yan" <y.k.y at lycos.com> writes:

> From: cat13 at illrepute.org
> 
> >> But the skull probably
> >> needs to be exposed a lot to give access to extensive interfacing.
> >
> >For the surgery, yes.  After the surgery, only a small hole would need to
> >be exposed.
> 
> But for gradual uploading we're talking about performing infinitesimal
> surgeries to the brain continually... What is the approx number of
> surgeries for a whole-brain replacement? 50? or 10,000? I picture
> a very big number.

I was picturing a relatively small number - 50 being a very approximate
upper limit.

<discarding the body - this is a philosophical issue that we can each
decide for outselves separately, so I don't think we currently need to
debate it>

> >This brings up an interesting question.  I agree that, when discussing
> >uploading in general, we don't necessarily require a full understanding
> >of the brain.  However, is that still the case in gradual uploading?
> >It seems that, unless we can develop an artificial neuron capable of
> >synaptogenesis, we won't be mindlessly replacing neurons but
> >intelligently replacing functional areas comprised of multiple neurons,
> >and that we'd need to understand how those areas function before being
> >able to replace them.
> 
> We already have some plausible theories of the whole brain.
> Whole-brain replacement will not be that far away IF these
> theories turn out to be approximately correct.
> 
> Brothers Wright did not solve 10,000 differential equations
> to invent flight. Instead they did it by trial and error.
> Question is whether our current understanding of the brain
> is close enough for WBE. This is a very interesting question
> and I'm studying on it more... Notice that a neuroscientist
> would be much more cautious than someone interested in MU.

It might be possible that our current understanding of the brain is
comprehensive enough to allow MU (that's what, ahem, the worm project
would answer),  IFF we consider solely sudden replacement as opposed to
gradual replacement.  If we're talking about gradual replacement, how
can we replace parts of the brain without a much stronger understanding
of them and how they work than we currently have?  How can we replace
a single part of the brain without understanding it?