The Cyberpunk 2077 promo and mind upload: lets say we can do it
Recently Kurzgesagt published a video about mind upload in the context of the Cyberpunk 2077 release. I find the video quite interesting for several reasons. First, it is an interesting format: a game developer company commissions a video from a scientific dissemination organization. Nothing against that. I find it is a really clever and positive way of advertising while at the same time informing the public. I have to admit I didn’t know Kurzgesagt existed before this video (yes, I have been living under a rock, a rock called experimental neuroscience) but I have to say I love it already. I think they are doing great work and the animations are really well made.
Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world
— Isaac Asimov (maybe*)
The second interesting point is that it gets so much attention. Ok, it is hard to tell how much of this is hype/influencer effect but the video was on the top YouTube trends for several days. That makes me happy. Brain computer interfaces is my passion and I have to admit these ideas fascinate me. Maybe it also does for many, many others? I guess it is always important the way you present it (cool animation), the context (long expected video game release) and the quality (awesome), but it is still remarkable.
The third interesting aspect is the science. I think they did the research and nothing absurd was said. I haven’t so far seen any other video from Kurzgesagt but reading their Wikipedia article makes it sound like they have an interest in accurate science and have also meaningful collaborations with for example, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation.
The fourth aspect is the inspirational one. There I have to say I am somewhat disappointed. IMHO one of the goals of scientific communication is to inspire and the video just says a bunch of numbers that scare the hell out of you.
I wish that we as neuro-technologists had that reach and that audience. If we had I would say something like: we can totally do this!. I think about it a lot, and the more I think about it the more realistic the idea gets to me. Although we as neuroscientist like to say we don’t know anything about the brain (that gets you grants), we know already a lot about the brain. The technological advances for the flesh/hardware are probably the hardest part but we have done so many amazing things in the last 100 or so years.
I have a hunch. I believe at the end it will not be required to do a full copy of the brain but just to have the right emulator.
Why would one even say this is doable? Well because otherwise we wouldn't even begin working on this. I might be a dreamer or a very optimistic futurist but I don’t believe we are as far from reaching high bandwidth mind-computer interaction and maybe even something alike brain uploading.
Lets even say this is totally doable this century.
I have a hunch. I believe at the end it will not be required to do a full copy of the brain as they mention, but just to have the right emulator and modules. For example, given enough bandwidth, you could, replace part, if not your entire visual system with a module that does a similar function. We are already cracking vision (after thousands of years of hard research!). In fact we have begun injecting vision directly into the brain (thanks @AntonioLozanoDL). Then go part by part. But this is not new. This is the Ship of Theseus idea (but see also objections).
My other wild hunch: high cognitive processes are not such a big deal as perception and motor systems are. We just need the right algorithms. Apparently, I realized recently, this is also not a new idea (thanks @marcsh).
Yes, I might be naïve. But I would like to be. The prospects are so exciting that this is slowly turning for me to be a life goal. Even if I fail and die trying. Whatever.
On other networks: twitter reddit
[Sorry for the raw thoughts, I am trying to push myself to put my thoughts online as much as possible]
* This is a quote attributed to Asimov but there is little evidence about he really saying this. The only reference I found was that it was taken from “Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations” apparently by Isaac Asimov and Jason Shulman (1988). The text is in the archive.
The video:
On twitter:
