[extropy-chat] Cryonics questions...

[Robert Bradbury]

On 5/8/06, Anne-Marie Taylor <femmechakra at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> Is mind solely information and is the brain just matter?
>
> Will reversal cryonics only be made available when
> mind experiences will be able to be transfered
> and/or when the matter can be transfered?
>

For all practical purposes one can consider the "brain" (as in the
biological system) to be the matter which the mind.  You can to a large
degree (at least IMO) consider the "mind" to be the successive information
states that brain goes through.  For example you can consider taking a piece
of paper and turning it into an origami crane.  The paper goes through
successive information states each a little different from the one before
it.  You can kind of consider the "mind" to be the successive forms that the
paper (brain) goes through in the process of going from a flat sheet to a
folded crane.

Cryonics "reversal" or "reanimation" as I like to call it will depend upon
the technical capabilities which may be developed in the future.  One group
of followers prefers to believe that the brain will be restored and the
"mind" will be reactivated.  (Similar to individuals who recover from a low
temperature drowning).  Another group of followers prefers the option of
simply transferring the information state from the brain to a computer which
can perform the identical or highly similar processing functions (this is
commonly known as uploading).  There at least a third form which I've been
thinking about lately where a person may choose to have their "information"
recovered (i.e. memory readout) but require that the essential
structure/information which would allow one to run the mind.  This is kind
of the difference between restoring a computer from a "suspend" state
(nanobiological cryonics reanimation), rebooting the computer [on different
hardware which can function "like the original" [1]] (uploading) and data
restoration (from a hard drive, tape, etc.).

To a large degree what will be possible may depend on when one attempts
them.  I happen to think that the order in which they will be developed will
be:
1) Biological reanimation (probably leveraged using nanorobots).
2) Information recovery (memory readout).
3) Full uploading onto non-wet-brain hardware.

#2 is probably a prerequisite for #3.  Whether (1) or (2 + 3) will be first
developed first remains an open question.  I tend to lean towards (1) as
being possible probably 5-10 years before (2 + 3).  Also, IMO, I would
expect that humanity would have to suffer a severe developmental setback (
e.g. an "Armageddon" type event) for these not to be available by the
2050-2060 time frame.  If we pushed a little harder on them we could have
them in the 2020-2030 time frame.

Some people might want to ask why you would ever want #2 and not #3.  My
answer would be that most people do not like to function in environments in
which they are not comfortable.  Most people transitioning from the slow run
up to the singularity to the stage where it becomes painfully unavoidable
may consciously choose to not want to have to live in that "crazy" world.
They might however want to leave humanity their memorys, insights, stories,
etc.  Right now one only has available very crude tools for sharing oneself
(teaching children or students, establishing foundations, created entities
(companies, art, estates, etc.), writing autobiographies, ...).  Choosing #2
without #3 allows you to give humanity literally "all of oneself" without
having the problem of getting up sometime in 20, 30 or 40 years and having
to upload 100, 102, 104, 108, 116, 132, etc. terabytes of information *each*
successive morning just to keep up with everything that changed in the world
while you were sleeping.

Robert
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