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> Most neuroscientists think the ability to recapture memories from brain tissue and re-create a consciousness inside a computer is at best decades away... At

> Most neuroscientists think the ability to recapture memories from brain tissue and re-create a consciousness inside a computer is at best decades away... At best, decades away? That's some crazy hubris. It's not even imaginable how far away it is. I find it absurd that humans think they can achieve arguably the highest level of godliness in mere decades. This is almost as crazy as saying teleportation is less than a hundred years away. We can't make predictions about things we don't understand. Edit: I'm getting some flak for not including the rest of the quote, but I would argue that it doesn't matter. The rest of the quote was "and probably not possible at all". Their conclusion makes no sense. How can something either be impossible or potentially very possible? This statement shows how little academia actually knows about neuroscience. And no, this is not comparable to opinions about the moon landing in the 50's. By the 1950s we already had a completely sufficient theoretical framework for achieving space flight. The same cannot be said about consciousness upload as of today.

apsec112 9y ago
" To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth—all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances." - Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube, 1957 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Incorrect_predictions https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Incorrect_predictions
- anonytrary 9y ago
  This is not a very good comparison at all. In the 1950s, we already had a complete theoretical foundation for space travel. Newton's equations, developed hundreds of years earlier, gave us that foundation. Where is the theoretical foundation for consciousness upload? If you had pulled a quote denouncing space travel from the late 1600s, it would be a better comparison. It should be noted that it took hundreds of years before Newton's theory resulted in extraterrestrial travel.
dickfickling 9y ago
> Most neuroscientists think the ability to recapture memories from brain tissue and re-create a consciousness inside a computer is at best decades away and probably not possible at all. Did you deliberately ignore the rest of that sentence?
- rococode 9y ago
  Yikes, what kind of horrendous wording is that? "it's probably not possible at all but if it is we'll be there soon!"
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Yikes, what kind of horrendous wording is that? "it's probably not possible at all but if it is we'll be there soon!" “At best” means “viewed maximally optimistically”, and, in the context of a development timeline, specifically “no sooner than”. So, it was saying “it’s probably not possible at all, and, if it somehow is possible, we’re at least several decades away from even a demonstration”. You have badly misread, apparently inverting the sense of “at best”.
    - rococode 9y ago
      Oh, you're absolutely right, thanks for pointing that out. For some reason I interpreted it as "at worst", oops..

apsec112 9y ago

" To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth—all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances." - Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube, 1957 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Incorrect_predictions https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Incorrect_predictions

anonytrary 9y ago
This is not a very good comparison at all. In the 1950s, we already had a complete theoretical foundation for space travel. Newton's equations, developed hundreds of years earlier, gave us that foundation. Where is the theoretical foundation for consciousness upload? If you had pulled a quote denouncing space travel from the late 1600s, it would be a better comparison. It should be noted that it took hundreds of years before Newton's theory resulted in extraterrestrial travel.

dickfickling 9y ago

> Most neuroscientists think the ability to recapture memories from brain tissue and re-create a consciousness inside a computer is at best decades away and probably not possible at all. Did you deliberately ignore the rest of that sentence?

rococode 9y ago
Yikes, what kind of horrendous wording is that? "it's probably not possible at all but if it is we'll be there soon!"
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Yikes, what kind of horrendous wording is that? "it's probably not possible at all but if it is we'll be there soon!" “At best” means “viewed maximally optimistically”, and, in the context of a development timeline, specifically “no sooner than”. So, it was saying “it’s probably not possible at all, and, if it somehow is possible, we’re at least several decades away from even a demonstration”. You have badly misread, apparently inverting the sense of “at best”.
  - rococode 9y ago
    Oh, you're absolutely right, thanks for pointing that out. For some reason I interpreted it as "at worst", oops..