Mind Uploading— The Supposed “Digital Afterlife”

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Mind uploading, the idea of uploading one’s consciousness into the digital world, is a term coined for years in science fiction. But what if I told you this method of immortal existence could be real?

Of course, the concept is still being debated, but specialists have a plan of how it might happen. First, your brain would be scanned in detail. Our current machinery does not have the capability to do so, but technology is always progressing, and reaching this point should not be that far ahead of us. Second, this data will be stored digitally. This may be difficult, considering how complex our brains are, but, again, technology continues to improve so it should not be too long for there to be a higher standard of data storage. Finally, the computer will process and run the functions based on the information captured from the scan.

The procedure set out seems to be clear, but the dependence on how technology will run and supposed immortality raises many questions. Several people are unsure about whether the digitalized brain would be actually “you”. Also, if the processing makes a mistake, it will mess up the structure of the digital brain and could cause “you” to be crazy. There’s also the question of ethics in whether one should truly receive immortality. With the ability to live forever, people could continue to provide wisdom to the community and journey through their field of passion. However, this also means people with more troublesome purposes in mind will also have the advantage.

Regardless, as we continue to investigate and research this topic humanity will gain the knowledge for other surely helpful technology (considering mind uploading relates largely to the brain) whether mind uploading becomes a definite innovation.