Stored Consciousness

[Ginkgo]

If you had the chance to store your consciousness in a hard drive or other physical platform aside from your brain, would you do it? Why?

 

[INTP]

Consciousness is a byproduct coming from multiple things, consciousness itself is the same thing in every people, its just that the memories etc(which guide consciousness) are different. So you would need to make a complete map of brains, store this information and somehow be able to make a copy of it(it would need to be in atomic level) and get everything in it to continue from where it was when the map was made. When these brains start running, its the same consciousness in it than in the brains that were mapped. This being said, the consciousness(or the map of your brains) wouldnt be active during the storage, so basically it would be just there to be summoned some day in the future. Not sure if i would want to wake up futurame style or not.

 

[Mole]

If you had the chance to store your consciousness in a hard drive or other physical platform aside from your brain, would you do it? Why?

First they told me computers never make a mistake; and now they are telling me computers are conscious.

What do they take me for?

 

[INTP]

First they told me computers never make a mistake; and now they are telling me computers are conscious.

What do they take me for?

Whether artificial consciousness can be(or has been) created is a matter of debate, simply because they are debating about what conatitutes as consciousness. Some people go to the extend and say that basic pc has some sort of consciousness, others say that only some super computers with built artificial consciousness are conscious, other say that artificial consciousness isnt consciousness at all, but just built to mimic behavior that seems as if it were conscious.

 

[Mole]

The Literal Interpretation of Metaphor

Whether artificial consciousness can be(or has been) created is a matter of debate, simply because they are debating about what conatitutes as consciousness. Some people go to the extend and say that basic pc has some sort of consciousness, others say that only some super computers with built artificial consciousness are conscious, other say that artificial consciousness isnt consciousness at all, but just built to mimic behavior that seems as if it were conscious.

I think it is pretty obvious that the computer is a metaphor for consciousness, just as the steam engine was a metaphor for the emotions in the Age of Steam.

And with the steam engine as a metaphor, we were told we needed to vent our emotions just as steam engine vents steam; and if we didn't let off steam, we would explode. Please!

And with the computer as metaphor in the Computer Age, we are told we process information just like a computer. And we are told we can have information overload just like a computer. Please! Please! Please!

So we see the literal minded mistake a metaphor for reality, just as fundamentalists believe in the literal interpretation of their holy books.

So our problem here is not the storing of consciousness but instead the literal interpretation of metaphor.

 

[ygolo]

If you had the chance to store your consciousness in a hard drive or other physical platform aside from your brain, would you do it? Why?

It depends, would I be able to keep my consciousness in my brain also? Would this be just a "back-up"?

 

[Thisica]

I think it is pretty obvious that the computer is a metaphor for consciousness, just as the steam engine was a metaphor for the emotions in the Age of Steam.

And with the steam engine as a metaphor, we were told we needed to vent our emotions just as steam engine vents steam; and if we didn't let off steam, we would explode. Please!

And with the computer as metaphor in the Computer Age, we are told we process information just like a computer. And we are told we can have information overload just like a computer. Please! Please! Please!

So we see the literal minded mistake a metaphor for reality, just as fundamentalists believe in the literal interpretation of their holy books.

So our problem here is not the storing of consciousness but instead the literal interpretation of metaphor.

That's why modern cognitive science is in a mess: we're treating the brain as a computer. Hence the allures of a disembodied brain, by "mind uploading". Never mind the pesky fact that brains exist integrally with the rest of the body...

 

[Such Irony]

If you had the chance to store your consciousness in a hard drive or other physical platform aside from your brain, would you do it? Why?

Yes, if I could guarantee no one else had access to it.

 

[Qlip]

That's why modern cognitive science is in a mess: we're treating the brain as a computer. Hence the allures of a disembodied brain, by "mind uploading". Never mind the pesky fact that brains exist integrally with the rest of the body...

It's easy problem to solve, you just store a model of the body along with it as well...

 

[FunnyDigestion]

I'd put it out under a Creative Commons license, people could do mashups of my consciousness with Justin Bieber songs.

 

[Stanton Moore]

It cannot be done.
Ever heard of dark energy and dark matter? Products of the age of Hubble, in which we saw into the macrocosm. That single tool shook the foundations upon which all understanding of the universe was placed.
Soon we will enter a new age wherein we see into the microcosm, and all bets will be off.
'If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.' All this means is that you know what a duck looks and sounds like, not what it is.
Reductionism is seldom proven correct, given enough time.

 

[LucidLegend1984]

It cannot be done.

For every shield constructed there is a sword to pierce it. (Where there is a will there is a way).

This is philosophical question, like brain in a vat. If a brain was kept alive in a vat of life sustaining fluid what would it be thinking? Would it know that it is in a vat of fluid?

If you were able to put your consciousness on a hard drive would you?

It’s said that imitation is the ultimate compliment. I think imitation is more like a football in the groin. It’s funny till it happens to you.

I would not put my Consciousness on a hard drive there’s only room for one of me in this universe!

 

[Munchies]

Consciousness is a byproduct coming from multiple things, consciousness itself is the same thing in every people, its just that the memories etc(which guide consciousness) are different. So you would need to make a complete map of brains, store this information and somehow be able to make a copy of it(it would need to be in atomic level) and get everything in it to continue from where it was when the map was made. When these brains start running, its the same consciousness in it than in the brains that were mapped. This being said, the consciousness(or the map of your brains) wouldnt be active during the storage, so basically it would be just there to be summoned some day in the future. Not sure if i would want to wake up futurame style or not.

look at this guy

 

[Munchies]

I would not put my Consciousness on a hard drive there’s only room for one of me in this universe!

You could not put your conciousness on the hard drive BECAUSE there is only room for one of you in this universe

 

[entropie]

It surely can be done some day. Neurons work as a net of entangled entities similiar to the internet. Sadly our technology aint so far yet, an equivalent of a neuron is still a very large and inefficient huge computer.

An interface, data storage and formating are the greatest challenges

 

[Nales]

Does that include the ability to think and deduce? In that case it would be both incredibly interesting and extremely dangerous. Computers process data at an incomparably faster rate than we do. A recent computer with a human's consciousness would instantly solve all questions about philosophy, mathematics, sociology, everything. It could also devise a plan to eradicate humanity or, on the contrary, save it from destruction by giving a working solution to every issue.
Considering we'll likely destroy our planet in the not-so-distant future anyways, I'd try it.

If you meant only "store" then it basically means immortality, right? You store your consciousness on a computer just before you die, then transfer it to another human. I wouldn't do that if it means "killing" someone else's consciousness in the process.

 

[RaptorWizard]

The universe is like a computer. It can be programmed to follow our will.

 

[garbage]

I would do so, because my consciousness includes my memory--my memory sucks and I could stand to enhance it for my own benefit. I use tricks to store my memory externally anyway; why not just go completely balls-out with those tricks?

Getting my memory out there in the form of a one-to-one mapping of my brain is a lot more effective than writing things down on a PDA or a notepad, or, worse, trying to recall things using my brain. I'd just write a Perl script to parse the contents of my brain, or something.

Would I get my consciousness out there for after I'm dead? Yeah, perhaps if it could be of benefit to science.

 

[Mole]

Consciousness and Being

Storing consciousness is storing being.

And as being alternatively conceals itself and reveals itself, storing being is like storing water in a sieve.

For consciousness is not a thing, it is not even a state of being, it is being itself.

If being were a thing, we could store it on the supermarket shelves, and pay for it at the checkout. When in reality, we pay for being with non-being.

And as being can no more be stored than non-being, so consciousness may not be stored.