[MURG] fixing defects (was off-topic posts)

[Ed Minchau]

 --- Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote: 


> Sure, but this doesn't mean you can fix trivially
> fixable defects. The
> difficulty is finding what exactly is broken where,
> and how to fix it.
>  
> > If an uploaded mind differs from the original,
> then
> > the upload isn't successful.  If one is afflicted
> with
> > any sort of mental disorder, whether caused by
> > pollutants, genetics, or trauma, then that
> disorder
> > would remain in the uploaded mind.
> 
> Sure, but if it's a mutation with a known phenotype,
> what prevents you from
> replaying the right developmental branch, and
> expressing it in machina?
>  

For anything beyond trivially fixable defects, I think
this would be orders of magnitude more difficult than
mind uploading.  

Also, what is a "defect"?  Things like schizophrenia,
manic/depression, and any number of other disorders
must have some evolutionary advantage or they would
have been selected out of the gene pool long ago.

Many such defects must be two sides of the same coin,
conferring some advantage in one area while proving a
disadvantage in another.

Suppose for a moment that John Nash was uploaded, and
his schizophrenia removed... would he still be the
same person?  Would he still grasp mathematics in the
same way?

Ed

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