Editing Mind uploading (section)

== Relevant technologies and techniques ==
The focus of mind uploading, in the case of copy-and-transfer, is on data acquisition, rather than data maintenance of the brain. A set of approaches known as loosely coupled off-loading (LCOL) may be used in the attempt to characterize and copy the mental contents of a brain.<ref name=SIM>{{cite web|url=http://www.carboncopies.org/substrate-independent-minds| title=Substrate-Independent Minds |publisher= Carboncopies.org Foundation |work=carboncopies.org|access-date=2014-01-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140103135545/http://www.carboncopies.org/substrate-independent-minds |archive-date= 2014-01-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> The LCOL approach may take advantage of self-reports, life-logs and video recordings that can be analyzed by artificial intelligence. A bottom-up approach may focus on the specific resolution and morphology of neurons, the spike times of neurons, the times at which neurons produce action potential responses.

===Computational complexity===
[[File:Whole brain emulation.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|Estimates of how much processing power is needed to emulate a human brain at various levels, along with the fastest and slowest [[supercomputer]]s from [[TOP500]] and a $1000 PC. Note the logarithmic scale. The (exponential) trend line for the fastest supercomputer reflects a doubling every 14 months. Kurzweil believes that mind uploading will be possible at neural simulation, while the Sandberg & Bostrom report is less certain about where consciousness arises.<ref>Roadmap. "Given the complexities and conceptual issues of consciousness we will not examine criteria 6abc, but mainly examine achieving criteria 1–5." p. 11.</ref>]]

Advocates of mind uploading point to Moore's law to support the notion that the necessary computing power is expected to become available within a few decades. However, the actual computational requirements for running an uploaded human mind are very difficult to quantify, potentially rendering such an argument specious.

Regardless of the techniques used to capture or recreate the function of a human mind, the processing demands are likely to be immense, due to the large number of neurons in the human brain along with the considerable complexity of each neuron.

Required computational capacity strongly depends on the chosen level of simulation model scale:<ref name="Roadmap" />
{| class="wikitable"
! Level  ||CPU demand<br />(FLOPS)||Memory demand<br />(Tb)||$1 million super‐computer<br />(Earliest year of making)
|-
| Analog network population model||10<sup>15</sup>||10<sup>2</sup>||2008
|-
| [[Spiking neural network]] ||10<sup>18</sup>||10<sup>4</sup>||2019
|-
| [[Electrophysiology]]||10<sup>22</sup>||10<sup>4</sup>||2033
|-
| [[Metabolome]] ||10<sup>25</sup>||10<sup>6</sup>||2044
|-
| [[Proteome]]||10<sup>26</sup>||10<sup>7</sup>||2048
|-
| States of protein complexes ||10<sup>27</sup>||10<sup>8</sup>||2052
|-
| Distribution of complexes ||10<sup>30</sup>||10<sup>9</sup>||2063
|-
| Stochastic behavior of single molecules||10<sup>43</sup>||10<sup>14</sup>||2111
|-
|+ align="bottom" |Estimates from ''[[Anders Sandberg|Sandberg]], [[Nick Bostrom|Bostrom]], 2008''
|}

===Scanning and mapping scale of an individual===
When modelling and simulating the brain of a specific individual, a brain map or connectivity database showing the connections between the neurons must be extracted from an anatomic model of the brain. For whole brain simulation, this network map should show the connectivity of the whole [[nervous system]], including the [[spinal cord]], [[sensory receptor]]s, and [[muscle cells]]. Destructive scanning of a small sample of tissue from a [[mouse brain]] including synaptic details is possible as of 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=New imaging method developed at Stanford reveals stunning details of brain connections|date=21 December 2009 |url=http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2010/11/new-imaging-method-developed-at-stanford-reveals-stunning-details-of-brain-connections.html|publisher=Stanford Medicine}}</ref>

However, if [[short-term memory]] and [[working memory]] include prolonged or repeated firing of neurons, as well as intra-neural dynamic processes, the electrical and chemical signal state of the synapses and neurons may be hard to extract. The uploaded mind may then perceive a [[memory loss]] of the events and mental processes immediately before the time of brain scanning.<ref name=Roadmap/>

A full brain map has been estimated to occupy less than 2 x 10<sup>16</sup> bytes (20,000 TB) and would store the addresses of the connected neurons, the synapse type and the synapse "weight" for each of the brains' 10<sup>15</sup> synapses.<ref name=Roadmap/>{{Failed verification|date=March 2012}} However, the biological complexities of true brain function (e.g. the epigenetic states of neurons, protein components with multiple functional states, etc.) may preclude an accurate prediction of the volume of binary data required to faithfully represent a functioning human mind.

===Serial sectioning===
[[File:User-FastFission-brain.gif|thumb|right|Serial sectioning of a brain]]
A possible method for mind uploading is serial sectioning, in which the brain tissue and perhaps other parts of the nervous system are frozen and then scanned and analyzed layer by layer, which for frozen samples at nano-scale requires a cryo-[[ultramicrotome]], thus capturing the structure of the neurons and their interconnections.<ref name="Merkle 1989">Merkle, R., 1989, [http://www.merkle.com/merkleDir/brainAnalysis.html Large scale analysis of neural structures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204045807/http://www.merkle.com/merkleDir/brainAnalysis.html |date=2012-02-04 }}, CSL-89-10 November 1989, [P89-00173]</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chalmers |first=David J. |date=2014-06-13 |title=Uploading: A Philosophical Analysis |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118736302.ch6 |journal=Intelligence Unbound |pages=102–118 |doi=10.1002/9781118736302.ch6|isbn=9781118736418 }}</ref> The exposed surface of frozen nerve tissue would be scanned and recorded, and then the surface layer of tissue removed. While this would be a very slow and labor-intensive process, research is underway to automate the collection and microscopy of serial sections.<ref name="ATLUM Project">[http://www.mcb.harvard.edu/lichtman/ATLUM/ATLUM_web.htm ATLUM Project], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201055512/http://www.mcb.harvard.edu/lichtman/ATLUM/ATLUM_web.htm|date=2008-02-01}}.</ref> The scans would then be analyzed, and a model of the neural net recreated in the system into which the mind was being uploaded.

There are uncertainties with this approach using current microscopy techniques. If it is possible to replicate neuron function from its visible structure alone, then the resolution afforded by a [[scanning electron microscope]] would suffice for such a technique.<ref name="ATLUM Project"/> However, as the function of brain tissue is partially determined by molecular events (particularly at [[synapse]]s, but also at [[Ion channel|other]] places on the neuron's cell [[Membrane potential|membrane]]), this may not suffice for capturing and simulating neuron functions. It may be possible to extend the techniques of serial sectioning and to capture the internal molecular makeup of neurons, through the use of sophisticated [[immunohistochemistry]] staining methods that could then be read via [[confocal laser scanning microscopy]]. However, as the physiological genesis of 'mind' is not currently known, this method may not be able to access all of the necessary biochemical information to recreate a human brain with sufficient fidelity.

===Brain imaging===
[[File:Connectome extraction procedure.jpg|thumb|upright=3|Process from MRI acquisition to whole brain structural network<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0060159 |title=Mapping the Structural Core of Human Cerebral Cortex |year=2008 |last1=Hagmann |first1=Patric |last2=Cammoun |editor1-first=Karl J. |first2=Leila |last3=Gigandet |first3=Xavier |last4=Meuli |editor1-last=Friston |first4=Reto |last5=Honey |first5=Christopher J. |last6=Wedeen |first6=Van J. |last7=Sporns |first7=Olaf |last8=Friston |first8=Karl J. |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=6 |pages=e159 |pmid=18597554 |issue=7 |pmc=2443193 |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]
[[File:Magnetoencephalography.svg|thumb|right|[[Magnetoencephalography]]]]

It may be possible to create functional 3D maps of the brain activity, using advanced [[neuroimaging]] technology, such as [[functional MRI]] (fMRI, for mapping change in blood flow), [[magnetoencephalography]] (MEG, for mapping of electrical currents), or combinations of multiple methods, to build a detailed three-dimensional model of the brain using non-invasive and non-destructive methods. Today, fMRI is often combined with MEG for creating functional maps of human cortex during more complex cognitive tasks, as the methods complement each other. Even though current imaging technology lacks the spatial resolution needed to gather the information needed for such a scan, important recent and future developments are predicted to substantially improve both spatial and temporal resolutions of existing technologies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Glover |first1=Paul |last2=Bowtell |first2=Richard |year=2009 |title=Medical imaging: MRI rides the wave |journal=Nature |volume=457 |issue=7232 |pages=971–972 |bibcode=2009Natur.457..971G |doi=10.1038/457971a |pmid=19225512 |s2cid=205044426 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Brain simulation===
{{main|Brain simulation}}
Ongoing work in the field of brain simulation includes partial and whole simulations of some animals.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> For example, the ''C. elegans'' roundworm,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Niebur |first1=E. |last2=Erdös |first2=P. |date=November 1993 |title=Theory of the locomotion of nematodes: control of the somatic motor neurons by interneurons |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8260760 |journal=Mathematical Biosciences |volume=118 |issue=1 |pages=51–82 |doi=10.1016/0025-5564(93)90033-7 |issn=0025-5564 |pmid=8260760}}</ref> ''Drosophila'' fruit fly,<ref>{{Cite book |date=2010 |title=The 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) |chapter-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5596513 |journal=IEEE|doi=10.1109/IJCNN.2010.5596513 |last1=Arena |first1=Paolo |last2=Patane |first2=Luca |last3=Termini |first3=Pietro Savio |chapter=An insect brain computational model inspired by Drosophila melanogaster: Simulation results |pages=1–8 |isbn=978-1-4244-6916-1 }}</ref> and mouse<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-04-27 |title=Mouse brain simulated on computer |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6600965.stm |access-date=2024-05-10 |work=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref> have all been simulated to various degrees.

The [[Blue Brain Project]], initiated by the Brain and Mind Institute of the ''[[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne]]'' in Switzerland, is an attempt to create a synthetic brain by reverse-engineering mammalian brain circuitry, in order to accelerate experimental research on the brain.<ref>{{cite web |date=19 May 2015 |title=Bluebrain - EPFL |url=http://bluebrainproject.epfl.ch/FAQs.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060114070312/http://bluebrainproject.epfl.ch/FAQs.htm |archive-date=2006-01-14 |work=EPFL |quote=Once this replica is built, we will be able to do experiments that normally take us years or are prohibitively expensive or too difficult to perform. This will greatly accelerate the pace of research.}}</ref> In 2009, after a successful simulation of part of a rat brain, the director [[Henry Markram]] claimed that "A detailed, functional artificial human brain can be built within the next 10 years".<ref>{{cite news |last=Fildes |first=Jonathan |date=22 July 2009 |title=Artificial brain '10 years away' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8164060.stm |access-date= |website=bbc.co.uk |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> In 2013, Markram became the director of the new decade-long [[Human Brain Project]]. But less than two years into it, the project was recognized to be mismanaged and its claims overblown, and Markram was asked to step down.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Epstein |first=Robert |date=18 May 2016 |title=The empty brain |url=https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does-not-process-information-and-it-is-not-a-computer |access-date=2021-04-04 |website=Aeon |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Theil |first=Stefan |date=2015-10-01 |title=Why the human brain project went wrong and how to fix it |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-the-human-brain-project-went-wrong-and-how-to-fix-it/ |access-date=2021-04-04 |website=[[Scientific American]]}}</ref>