Brain downloads will be 'possible by 2050.' Is this ethical? What would this mean for religion?

Question

Will this mean that once our bodies wear out, our paradise will become a super computer?

Will we need to see or hear any longer, so long as we can exchange data?

Will biology become unnecessary?

What are the implications for religion?

(Here's the link for the article.)
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/05/23/brain.download/

Answer 1

What?? God will come before then? There is no god. for crying out loud. get a grip. And if there was, if he was so opposed to this would the rapture not have come a long time ago, before we could even being things like downloads? Sheesshh people. Crazy idea, i like it, downloading with the brain. This irritation is not like me, that comment was off the wall

Answer 2

I think it's very cool. I would love to have my mind uploaded. The true essence of self is not the body, but the mind, and its potential far exceeds that of its frail organic shell.

As I understand it, the idea is that after scanning the synaptic structure of a brain, we could implement the same computations on an electronic medium that would normally take place in the neural network of the brain. A brain scan of sufficient resolution could be produced by disassembling the brain atom for atom by means of nanotechnology, possibly while the subject remains fully conscious. Other approaches, such analyzing small the brain slice by slice in an electron microscope with automatic image processing have also been proposed.

Once uploaded, one could, for example, inhabit a much more robust and powerful 'body' of any shape or size, move between bodies at will, live in a fully customized virtual environment, reprogram and copy oneself, enhance one's clock speed and intelligence by many orders of magnitude, gather, store, access & assimilate vast amounts of data (simultaneously), travel at the speed of light as pure information etc. etc. Once freed from its feeble, doomed fleshy prison, the mind would effectively be immortal and god-like.

Answer 3

ethical measurement, properly might you enable somebody you opt to run on a Microsoft working gadget and committing suicide via dividing via 0. If as some scientists think of there's a quantum element in theory and information, in simple terms downloading won't do the job. you will have the innovations that build the identity, however the ghost would be lacking from the device.

Answer 4

I hope to come back to this question later. I've thought on it much.

2050 seems overly optimistic to me. But it is most likely a future possibility for seemingly eternal life. Would you turn in some of you basic sensations to live on indefinitely mentally? In that case if someone deletes your file are they a murderer? etc

Ethical yes. I don't see why not. I can even make multiple copies of myself and try multiple parallel "universes" WOW

Answer 5

Sweet. I wanna pull some Ghost in the Machine sh*t. Though, this technology would probably only be available to the ultra-rich, this is, after all, a capitalist society.

Answer 6

id rather go the other way around, have the computer put in my brain(not literally, but like in the matrix where they'd download things).

as for religion, you bring up a valid point

Answer 7

First of all this is only one man's opinion. Second of all, who is going to pay for this? Not any insurance company I've ever heard of.

Answer 8

fascinating, frightening and I have no idea what it will mean...except that I doubt that I'll be around for it..that makes me sad...this is something I would like to see. Not necessarily to experience..just to see.

Answer 9

I would be worried about totalitarians, including theocrats, getting hold of this and forcing them on people.

Answer 10

if i was fully downloaded, that wouldnt be me... that will be a different "person"

i'd still be dead