Kevin Farnell
Honorary Member Of Forums4airports
- Thread starter
- #21
That's an enormous question, Jenny. I'm assuming you mean to keep the mind alive after we pass.Why is it not possible to preserve the essence of the mind?
Firstly, what is the mind?
But before that, we should ask what is consciousness and where does it reside? We believe that consciousness is a product of the brain, but whilst Scientists know how the brain functions (i.e. billions of connected neurons that communicate with electrical signals), we have no real idea as to how consciousness arises. I've heard that some Scientists don't believe that we are truly conscious and claim that brain scans show impulses microseconds before we make a conscious decision. I don't agree with that, but I don't know how to explain consciousness. But I believe that without consciousness, we would not have personality and only respond to external stimuli.
I've also heard it said that animals are not conscious (although not recently, it seems to be a dated view). I'm sure as a dog 'owner' (I'm never sure that I like the term 'owner' for pets, it's more like a partnership of two independent beings who share a home and life), you will completely agree that dogs are conscious and have personalities. Before my Sister emigrated, she had a lovely white German Shepherd named Emma. She was a very gentle natured dog and one evening at my parents house (a large bungalow with gardens on three sides), I was out with her, She ran off around the corner of the house, so I dropped down low about 2 feet from the corner. A few moments later, she re-appeared to see where I was. At that point, I jumped up with my arms in the air and yelled 'Raaahhhh!'. She ran off, her claws scrabbling on the paving slabs. I again dropped down and shortly a nose and then eyes cautiously appeared. I again jumped up with the same result. She loved it and we went on like this until it got too dark to see. She seemed disappointed when I decided it was time to go indoors. Sorry for the long example, but it clearly shows that Emma understood the game and was having fun. For that she must be conscious.
Getting back on track, how could we 'preserve the essence of the mind'? I've seen and read many Sci-Fi examples where people's minds are uploaded to computers (an example being Rimmer from Red Dwarf, who is a hologram and his personality is kept 'alive' by the spaceships computer).
If it ever became possible to upload a mind to a computer, what would we have actually uploaded? We could program the computer so that it responds in a similar way to the personality to that person. But what of the mind? would consciousness still be there, or would it just be a representation of how the person was?
These are just my thoughts and I freely admit that I know little about brain research. I still think we have a long way to go before we understand the mind and consciousness, but perhaps when we do, there may be a possibility of preservation of the mind.
Kevin