Uploads and Emulations


We are fairly sceptical about whether the whole idea of brain uploads and whole brain emulation. It may happen, but there is nothing at the moment to suggest it is actually do’able, and so for us the more realistic approach for the near future is to look at what Murray Shanahan refers to as the ‘Engineering AI’ approach - trying to build something which simulates the results of the human brain in a standard computer substrate, rather than trying to scan neurons and then re-encode them in a silicon or organic neuron copies.

But like the Singularity it is very much a part of the landscape of the discussion about AI and the futures, so we provide a summary of the concepts and arguments in Chapter 13 of the book, and we’ll post relevant links and observation below and on the blog.

Brain Calculation



Useful References


Cheshire Jr, W. P. (2015). The Sum of All Thoughts: Prospects of Uploading the Mind to a Computer. Ethics & Medicine, 31(3), 135.

Koene, R. A. (2012). Embracing competitive balance: The case for substrate-independent minds and whole brain emulation. In: Eden, A.H., Moor, J.H., Soraker, J.H., Steinhart, E. (Eds.), Singularity Hypotheses (pp. 241-267). Berlin: Springer. 

Sandberg, A., & Bostrom, N. (2008). ‘Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap Technical Report. Future of Humanity Institute.’ Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford). Available online http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/reports/2008-3.pdf