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178 • Cyborg Mind
personal identity and consciousness. He describes a teletransporter machine
that breaks up an individual into atoms, copies the information and then
sends it to Mars at the speed of light, where another machine re-creates the
same individual from local atoms, each one being in exactly the same rela-
tive position as the original. Parfit then asks whether the teletransporter is a
method of travel for the original individual and whether the person on Mars
is the same person as the individual who entered the teletransporter on Earth.
Of course, the individual on Mars would have the same memories and mind
as the original person back on Earth.
However, the thought experiment continues with an upgrading of the
teletransporter on Earth so that the original individual is not broken down
into atoms, but is simply scanned and a copy made in Mars. This would
enable the original person on Earth to continue to exist and eventually see
a copy of himself or herself coming out of the machine on Mars. Because
of this, it is then possible to question who would be the original person.
Moreover, if the original person on Earth subsequently died, should the
replica on Mars care at all?
In a way, this kind of paradox is not new and was raised as far back as 1775
by the religiously trained Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid (1710–96), who
indicated in a letter:
I would be glad to know your Lordship’s opinion whether when my brain has
lost its original structure, and when some hundred years after the same materi-
als are fabricated so curiously as to become an intelligent being, whether, I say
that being will be me; or, if, two or three such beings should be formed out
of my brain; whether they will all be me, and consequently one and the same
intelligent being.362
But of course, such questions only become relevant for those with dualist
perspectives of the person and who do not believe that the body and the
mind are one single whole. As such, they fail to recognise that it is impossible
to retain personal identity when the body and the mind are separated.363 This
means that if a biological mind is uploaded on to a computer, this could be
seen as a form of ‘mind-cloning’, especially if the original biological mind
remains in existence.
Given this perspective, it is interesting to note that Sandberg prefers to use
the term ‘whole brain emulation’ rather than ‘uploading’. There is a shift of
direction away from translating a person into a new realm, to moving towards
an attempt to build something that emulates or imitates a brain. The goal is
no longer to enable an existing person to live forever in digital form, but to
create a new being based on a more generalised human template
– something
that is neither human nor transhuman, but certainly highly capable and
intelligent.
This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.
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Buch Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics"
Cyborg Mind
What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
- Titel
- Cyborg Mind
- Untertitel
- What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics
- Autor
- Calum MacKellar
- Verlag
- Berghahn Books
- Datum
- 2019
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-1-78920-015-7
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.9 cm
- Seiten
- 264
- Schlagwörter
- Singularity, Transhumanism, Body modification, Bioethics
- Kategorie
- Technik
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Chapter 1. Why Use the Term ‘Cyberneuroethics’? 9
- Chapter 2. Popular Understanding of Neuronal Interfaces 25
- Chapter 3. Presentation of the Brain–Mind Interface 31
- Chapter 4. Neuronal Interface Systems 43
- Developments in Information Technology 44
- Developments in Understanding the Brain 45
- Developments in Neuronal Interfaces 46
- Procedures Involved in Neuronal Interfaces 47
- Output Neuronal Interface Systems: Reading the Brain and Mind 49
- Input Neuronal Interface Systems: Changing the Brain and Mind 57
- Feedback Systems of the Brain and Mind 67
- Ethical Issues Relating to the Technology of Neuronal Interfaces 84
- Chapter 5. Cyberneuroethics 99
- Chapter 6. Neuronal Interfaces and Policy 217
- New Cybercrimes 218
- Policy Concerns 223
- Conclusion 229
- Human Autonomy 232
- Resistance to Such a Development 234
- Risks of Neuronal Interfaces 234
- Appendix. Scottish Council on Human Bioethics Recommendations on
- Cyberneuroethics 239
- Glossary 244
- Index 251