MFrobotH43D
Registered Member
A couple people have mentioned problems that would arise from "downloading" your brain to some kind of computer and therefore losing your body.
river-wind mentioned the chemical euphoria produced by exercise and possible side effects of losing the body's chemical system as it relates to a person's sense of well-being.
There is also the fact that our mental orientation to the world is only held in place by our senses. Our brain is constantly producing a model of reality based on the information received by our senses. When sensory input is lost, the brain continues to generate a model, but the model is no longer generated based on "reality". This is what happens when we dream (or experience sensory deprivation).
In the case of dreams, we wake up again and reestablish the connection with the physical world, and regain sensory based mental orientation. With out that orientation, a human mind would likely go crazy.
So some sort of hugely complex simulation of reality, or high resolution sensory input (vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste) would be necessary to preserve sanity(although I guess you could probably do ok with just vision, hearing and touch).
This also relates to AI research. Can we expect to engineer human-level intelligence without providing sufficient sensory connection to the physical world? Imagine a human infant mind, in isolation from sensory input -- it would never be able to develop and learn
river-wind mentioned the chemical euphoria produced by exercise and possible side effects of losing the body's chemical system as it relates to a person's sense of well-being.
There is also the fact that our mental orientation to the world is only held in place by our senses. Our brain is constantly producing a model of reality based on the information received by our senses. When sensory input is lost, the brain continues to generate a model, but the model is no longer generated based on "reality". This is what happens when we dream (or experience sensory deprivation).
In the case of dreams, we wake up again and reestablish the connection with the physical world, and regain sensory based mental orientation. With out that orientation, a human mind would likely go crazy.
So some sort of hugely complex simulation of reality, or high resolution sensory input (vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste) would be necessary to preserve sanity(although I guess you could probably do ok with just vision, hearing and touch).
This also relates to AI research. Can we expect to engineer human-level intelligence without providing sufficient sensory connection to the physical world? Imagine a human infant mind, in isolation from sensory input -- it would never be able to develop and learn