[MURG] new Road Map draft

[cat13 at illrepute.org]

Apologies in advance if there are weird typos in this email.
Either Emacs (mEmacs (what I use to re is buggy, or my term program is buggy;
in any  event,weird things keep happening as I type.

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

> Hi Jesse and others
> 
> I have worked out a new RoadMap specifically for the
> "version 3" approach, ie gradual replacement.
> 
> Please take a look at it at:
> http://www.geocities.com/softuploading/RoadMap2.jpg
> http://www.geocities.com/softuploading/RoadMap-glossary.txt
> http://www.geocities.com/softuploading/RoadMap2.xml
> 
> The time-line stuff is omitted because I'm afriad it
> would require more research.
> 
> Any comments to it?
> 
> One question I'm thinking right now is whether the
> "long-period" replacement is worth doing since it
> requires much more elaborated techniques. The
> alternative is to do the whole-brain replacement in
> a period of less than 1 year.
> 
> See the .txt file for explanations.

II've finished an initial review.
Thoughts, in no particular order:
-the .txt glossary is not at
   http://www.geocities.com/softuploading/RoadMap-glossary.txt
 but at the end of
   http://www.geocities.com/softuploading/RoadMap-glossary.txt
-The visual representation of information in this diagram seems disorganized to
 me, but maybe it's just me.
-What is the difference between "A is optional" and "A would help B?"
-What is the significance of a dashed arrow with a solid head, such as connects
 "Memory Extraction" to "Long-Term Gradual Replacement?"
-This is listed as v3.1 of the roadmap.  What was v3.0?
-What do you mean by "chronic implants?"  As opposed to what?
-Why could more invasive and damaging techniques be considered if replacement
 occurs over the span of a year?
-What are your concerns about "hard BCI?"  The only issue I can think of is
 that the electrodes might wander over time, but I'm not sure about this. See
   http://www.sciforums.com/t8155/s8cee3ed6aab510939aad1cf724cf6fd2/thread.html
-Why does memory extraction necessitate bi-directional communication?  Are you
 thinking of trying to stimulate the brain to evoke all memories, and then read
 them out?  But how would you know whether or not you've gotten all of them?
 and if the materialist philosophy is correct, then memories must somehow be
 encoded in the brain's physical makeup, so as long as you duplicate the brain's
 physical makeup you will automatically have the memories.  *Interpreting* the
 brain's physical makeup - trying to figure out WHICH information is important -
 leads to complications, and should be avoided whereever possible; so we don't
 want to "read out" the memories from the brain, we want to read out the physical
 structure from the brain.  We want to mindlessly (no pun intended) record all
 possible information about the lower level of the physical, not go into the
 higher level of interpretation.
-Is the "Moravec procedure" really required for gradual replacement?
-What is "cell-type identification?"  If it means identifying which type of cell a
 given neuron is, why is it separate from the "Moravec Robot?"
-You've identified a whole-brain connectivity map as essential to uploading, but
 identified vitrification/slicing/scanning as essential to that map.  I agree that
 a whole-brain map is necessary, but not, in my inexperienced view, in the same
 level of detail as a Slice N Scan (TM) would provide.  I would argue that all we
 need to know about the connectivity of the brain is what is common to all humans,
 which  I think (PLEASE correct if I'm wrong) we already know; I don't think the
 effort of the SnS is truly necessary.
-Why is H"hrd lesioning" necessary for short-term replacement techniques?  Why
 not "soft lesioning?"  Why is no lesioning necessary for long-term replacement?


All that being said, I'm extremely glad that you've put in this effort.