[MURG] Uploading via memory implants?

[Eugen Leitl]

On Mon, Nov 29, 2004 at 07:38:40AM +0100, Giu1i0 Pri5c0 wrote:

> When the tech of brain implants is perfected (e.g.
> http://www.cyberkineticsinc.com/index.htm), could it evolve in
> practical means for uploading?

There's no way to upload in vivo without sampling the volume with a high
density of sampling points (at a guess, a point/um^3 at least) and automatically 
build top-down models from accumulated information (right now we don't 
know how to build such models, we don't even know how to build them bottom-up). 

Such capabilities require invasive medical nanoware.

> Suppose one implants a memory extension that can be interfaced to the
> biological brain and store memories. If memories are not localized but

The brain is not a discrete assembly of specialized organs with clean
interfaces.

> scattered all over the brain, it seems plausible that after some time
> enough memory components have migrated to the new memory support and
> can be retrieved with apropriate tech.

You're not a sum of your memories. Incremental wetware substitution requires
a hardware that can fully interoperate with existing systems at the
interface. It's hard to see how you can achive that granularity without
abovementioned medical nanoware.

I don't see advent of such technologies within our natural biological
lifespan, even boosted with a CR-mimicking drug.

> I am sure there must have been studies on this.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
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