[Substack Live] Mind Uploads & Digital Immortality

Ever since computers have existed, humans have wondered what it might be like if a computer could host their own mind and consciousness. Inspired by experiments with Fruit Fly neural networks, Neuroscientist Tommy Blanchard and I sat down to chat about the practical challenges involved in simulating a brain, from the simplest of all nervous systems like the 302 neurons of the C. Elegans Nematode, to more complex ones like the Fruit Fly, all the way up to the 100-billion-neuron Human brain.We got into detail about why it’s so hard to capture the essence of an individual creature, even one as simple as a Nematode, with brain-maps alone.We also have a lot of fun talking about thought experiments like the Star-Trek Teleporter problem, and its implications for continuity of consciousness.Thank you to everyone who tuned in and shared your interesting and thought-provoking questions and comments! Make sure to subscribe to Cognitive Wonderland for more of Tommy (and Cow art) Get full access to A Chemical Mind at chemicalmind.substack.com/subscribe