The Singularity, Virtual Immortality and the Trouble with Consciousness (Op-Ed) - Deepstash
How to Feel Better About Yourself

Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection

How to practice self-compassion

How to identify and challenge negative self-talk

How to build self-confidence

How to Feel Better About Yourself

Discover 66 similar ideas in

It takes just

8 mins to read

Artificial Intelligence: Singularity and Virtual Immortality

Artificial Intelligence: Singularity and Virtual Immortality

The growth of technology and Artificial Intelligence(AI) is on track to provide us with:

  • Singularity: A merging of human intelligence and AI, resulting in Superstrong AI.
  • Virtual Immortality: Our mental selves including our memories being uploaded on the cloud computer, making us live beyond our original biological bodies.

71

392 reads

Inner Awareness and AI

... or self-awareness is something many scientists and philosophers are discussing. The fact that there is consciousness inside us, is a big problem for those developing AI, as no matter what they do, and how technologically superior the product is, nobody can explain or even fathom the juggernaut of consciousness.

55

189 reads

Qualia: Experiencing Sensations

Qualia relates to the raw sensations of experience, like colours, smells, sounds.

It is through our actual experience that we know what something tastes, looks or smells like, and it is not some information already drilled inside our brains on birth. We have to experience sensations to understand them.

57

164 reads

Consciousness In Computers

  • Computers and AI can never have a real, conscious mind, even if they appear to behave, talk and act in the same way a human being does(like self-driving cars, for example).
  • Simulation of consciousness, however sophisticated, is merely a duplication, not the real thing.
  • Computers can be made to act conscious, by saying or doing things that make us believe they may be conscious, but consciousness, as we know, cannot be replicated in a non-biological system.

54

154 reads

Giulio Tononi

" To be truly conscious, an entity must be of a certain kind that can constrain its past and future — and certainly a simulation is not of that kind."

GIULIO TONONI

55

162 reads

Virtual Immortality

... is a ripe area of debate, with some neuroscientists saying that it is not possible to transfer the entire person in a computer, and even if it is done successfully, the resulting entity would not be that person, but a ‘zombie’ who acts like that person.

These computers, armed with our mental information, may seem very intelligent and will claim that they are conscious, but they are not.

52

134 reads

The Two Conjectures

  1. The nature of artificial intelligence singularity with a consciousness (hypothetically) is vastly different and superior to ‘Superstrong AI’ which may be supremely intelligent, and even appear to be conscious. Being conscious beats appearing conscious.
  2. The human inner awareness cannot be wholly recreated or synthesized as of today, so uploading one’s complete neural patterns and ‘brain information’ cannot be authentic virtual immortality. We aren’t able to reproduce or transfer first-person consciousness.

54

143 reads

Trying To Define Consciousness

  1. The consciousness can be entirely physical, a product of the brain.
  2. It is an independent, unique entity, a special feature of physical reality, and can be a different reality in itself.
  3. Everything that exists has some form of ‘proto-consciousness’, or varying levels of consciousness, as stated in the old theory of panpsychism.
  4. Consciousness is non-physical, existing as a dual entity, connected to the physical brain at some metaphysical level. This non-physical substance is also called the ‘soul’.
  5. As believed by eastern religions for thousands of years, consciousness can be the ultimate reality, whereas our physical reality could just be a subset of the same.

58

128 reads

Superstrong AI Being Conscious

  1. If consciousness were completely physical then it is easy for Superstrong AI to be aware like humans are.
  2. If consciousness is an independent unique entity, then one cannot say if computers, AI, and other non-biological entities can ever experience any real awareness.
  3. In the case of panpsychism, where everything can have a certain level of consciousness, then Superstrong AI, too by this logic, can be aware.
  4. If the ‘soul’ exists, connected to the human mind, then Superstrong AI can not experience any true awareness, no matter how advanced.
  5. If consciousness is the ultimate reality then everything could be conscious, including non-biological entities.

56

121 reads

Digitizing The Self and Virtual Immortality

Virtual Immortality follows a similar path, depending on how we define consciousness.

  1. It is possible to upload a virtual self if consciousness is entirely physical.
  2. In case of consciousness being an independent entity, if it is understood and studied, then it is possible to upload a first-person mental self, though with some caveats and limitations.
  3. If everything is conscious then too, our mental self can be uploadable, provided advanced technologies can control consciousness.
  4. In case of consciousness being the soul, it would be impossible to transfer the self.
  5. If consciousness is the extreme reality, then it should exist in itself, without the need for unique digital upload.

54

97 reads

The Self, Copied

In case a digital replication procedure does work perfectly, there is an unanswered question of where the self would be, if, for example, it is replicated five times. It can lead to various possibilities in the self:

  1. Each of the five replicas can be super-identical twins, with their own consciousness, or can be psychological zombies.
  2. I can sense that I suddenly have five other selves, and can merge with them.
  3. The consciousness shifts from one replica to the other, maybe in fragments.
  4. The original self disappears, and all of the replicas claim they are the original.

55

115 reads

CURATED BY

stash-superman-illustration

Explore the World’s

Best Ideas

200,000+ ideas on pretty much any topic. Created by the smartest people around & well-organized so you can explore at will.

An Idea for Everything

Explore the biggest library of insights. And we've infused it with powerful filtering tools so you can easily find what you need.

Knowledge Library

Powerful Saving & Organizational Tools

Save ideas for later reading, for personalized stashes, or for remembering it later.

# Personal Growth

Take Your Ideas

Anywhere

Organize your ideas & listen on the go. And with Pro, there are no limits.

Listen on the go

Just press play and we take care of the words.

Never worry about spotty connections

No Internet access? No problem. Within the mobile app, all your ideas are available, even when offline.

Get Organized with Stashes

Ideas for your next work project? Quotes that inspire you? Put them in the right place so you never lose them.

Join

2 Million Stashers

4.8

5,740 Reviews

App Store

4.7

72,690 Reviews

Google Play

Sean Green

Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.

Ashley Anthony

This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!

Shankul Varada

Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.

samz905

Don’t look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.

Ghazala Begum

Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.

Giovanna Scalzone

Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.

Laetitia Berton

I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!

Jamyson Haug

Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving & library

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Personalized recommendations

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates