What would happen if we upload our brains to computers? | Robin Hanson

Meet the "ems" -- machines that emulate human brains and can think, feel and work just like the brains they're copied from. Economist and social scientist Robin Hanson describes a possible future when ems take over the global economy, running on superfast computers and copying themselves to multitask, leaving humans with only one choice: to retire, forever. Glimpse a strange future as Hanson describes what could happen if robots ruled the earth.
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[@SJNaka101]

Whoa this part he's talking about around 11:00 is reminding me of the movie The Prestige. It takes strength and courage, stepping into that platform, never knowing of you'll be the prestige... Or the man in the box.

[@petermampfrachen7024]

Imagine this: We are all just Em's from another species...

[@ruiningwang1644]

Actually we don't even exist. We are only part of the virtual instance in which you have been activated. You are the EM here, we are just code that you subconsciously imagined yourself.

[@ronaldsmith6843]

Skip this and watch this on Netflix's, Black Mirror (season-3/episode 4) San Junipero.

[@Sinvention]

ronald smith such a great episode.

[@venkatchait007]

why not both?

[@vladislavmoroshan3749]

ronald smith altered carbon far more similar to what he's talking about

[@thepalequeenkitty4595]

I live in a prison of flesh. My body is deteriorating and I suffer from multiple health problems. So watching San junipero made me cry because I would love to upload myself and be free of all of this physical pain.

[@williamraphael1579]

I came from that episode

[@Ray-fd5te]

This is really interesting to think about!

[@P0HTAT0]

I have seen a good few of these talks but I don't think I have seen a single person so excited he could barely talk. Only reason I don't go for human upload or cloning is: You may exist in two places at once but the inability to experience both existence's simultaneously how can you be sure that is you?

[@pasty609]

You could give whichever self you keep the memories of the copy, effectively experiencing both.

[@ZechsMerquise73]

Something very similar already happened and is happening in biology. The "first" consciousnesses "split" into their replicated descendants. Basically, you have the imprint of host consciousness on another organism, which moves on and does it's own thing; though, in biology the descendant isn't a perfect copy of the host. This isn't a continuation of the parent's consciousness. That's because your consciousness is the electrical force working on your brain's systems which were laid there before that electrical activity occurred, and that moment to moment activity in combination with the "circuitry" of your brain is you. Just as, all you might have by which to tell that you are the same person as was in your body from 7 years ago is your memories and the real effect that the circumstances in that time had on your mind and body. You might not know what you ate for breakfast two days ago. Thus, we aren't simply our memories. But how can you really be sure you didn't come to exist right at this very second? The answer to that question would have to rely on stimuli which is biased by its very nature. There is no "cosmic address" for the mind, it's not a singular object. It's a changing, dynamic system, and the composite of many different internal and some external factors. In this case, you would be your own mind, and the copy of you would be another mind. If you died with the copy existing, the "you" seeing out of your eyes would not take its place, even though the perfect copy would well believe that it is you; and, for all intents and purposes, it is. Your ego would live on, just as when you die now, life forms will go on seeing out of eyes and believing that they are an "I". If we copied the universe, and instead of adding it to the existing universe, kept them both perfectly separate somehow, would we have two universes? Or does the copying of something incredibly unique and specific, but also all-encompassing (since the universe is literally everything there is), would that still make it one thing? And if so, are they together in being the universe, or apart in both being the universe?

[@panpiper]

This would NOT be an "upload". This would be a mind clone. If this was done to you, "you" would not find yourself living inside a computer. Instead a new entity that "thinks" it is you would be created inside the computer. "You" however would still be alive, with your continuity of consciousness, outside the computer. Except now there would be another entity in the world who thinks just like you do, who might think it is you, but is not.

[@panpiper]

@Predator Pinsir So you are saying that if someone makes a copy of you that is living inside of a computer, you would have no problems with me killing the original you?

[@PinkProgram]

Tulpa Simulacra.

[@chlorophyllphile]

Peter Cohen I'm saying that is what he is saying. He compares it to amnesia after drinking too much

[@chlorophyllphile]

Peter Cohen This is very philosophical though. If they made a copy of you and killed you at the same time, would you notice?

[@chlorophyllphile]

Alan Fernandez Yes, naturally. Identical minds in the exact same state, so unlike twins, also the same memories etc. It might feel like teleporting into a different body/computer

[@nicolasmicaux8674]

Nice one

[@pumpuppthevolume]

geeee Rick I don't know

[@teso1016]

Brilliant

[@TimmacTR]

He sounds like he knows more than what he accepts to divulge lol..

[@HardKore5250]

TimmacTR Why you need 1,000 copies?

[@leeroberts4850]

Huh he sounds like he knows less then he thinks he does are we watching the same video. This video is evidence that Ted talks video quality has gone done

[@linkinlinkinlinkin654]

@@leeroberts4850 lmaoo. When I saw robin hanson on ted, my respect for these talks actually went up a bit. I've rarely seen anyone serious come on this pandering fake shitshow.

[@noudialp]

In a way, we are already uploading our brains by making comments here on youtube. But writing takes forever. So one should find a way to read thoughts and upload them simultaneously into a "clean AI".

[@revolutionnow5227]

This guy needs to upload his brain. Hes lungs are giving in .

[@Filosofikuningas]

For those unfamiliar with Hanson, I recommend to check out his blog, Overcoming Bias. His qualifications - which are very real and indisputable - can also be found there. This man's ideas are unorthodox, but his intelligence and creativity are rivaled by few.

[@anticringezone1778]

He looks like the type of person to start the Third Impact in human instrumentality

[@GJBilliards]

Makes a joke, blows wind out nose, starts panting

[@cjlive5182]

GJ Billiards can EMs breath so they aren't annoying like this guy?

[@MemeScreen]

I'm down for this. Let my conscious live on.

[@PinkProgram]

It isn't exactly your consciousness. Humans are tricky. You need your brains to be you. The download would only remember being you but since it doesn't have your brain it will immediately diverge... unless you've literally plugged your mind into an Oberon brain as part of the hybrot neural network... the actual physical tissue. One little node amongst the chains of hybrot zooids.

[@procrasti86]

You started off in english and then drifted off towards straight sci-fi

[@MemeScreen]

I would say I would be me and the copy would be me. Both me for a time, until our views and experiences diverge.

[@Martib]

it would be you but it would be a seprate you yeah

[@venkatchait007]

even if its an exact copy of you the differences in hardware/speed/environment(virtual) will soon make it unrecognizable. In fact within the first day the copy has probably lived longer than your lifetime.. edit: the kicker, you still die in real life so what is even the point?

[@Kenabukanyo]

" When the machines are gonna be threathen and / or be afraid for their own life , then they'll become concious . "

[@phough83]

This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen.

[@adamlytle2615]

I have a very hard time imagining jobs that an emulated human consciousness could do from within a computer that couldn't be done more cheaply by a set of algorithms. (ie, processing power and memory devoted only to the task at hand, not to simulating an environment or computing the various emotional repsonses the emulated human would want or need)

[@The_Original_Hybrid]

This is the only sensible comment I've read. It's completely absurd to think that Ems will be doing any sort of work if the work could be done by an AI.

[@HexMachineNica]

I clicked because it made me think of SOMA.

[@Damonistique]

I was just writing a story on such topic... noosphere is incredible, really

[@daisyduck8593]

Do we really continue to live when our copy (clone) lives in a simulation ? You need kind to transfer ourself into the cloud not to copy it into the cloud...

[@michaelmeng1108]

i completely agree with you, but how do we upload our mind in a way thats not copy and paste

[@TheAgamerman]

@@michaelmeng1108 ctrl x ctrl v instead of ctrl c ctrl v

[@Alphabunsquad]

An upload is just a copy where they kill you as they do it

[@giovannibini6809]

@@michaelmeng1108 exchanging our neurons one by one with microprocessors u won't even notice

[@MMD88]

You can’t change physical material into data as soon as your brain gets cloned then you would become two different people who have similar memories so it’s probably not possible to transfer “you” to a computer

[@irigm6132]

Why is he taking such deep breaths?

[@alx303alx]

This Ted Talk is grillning amazing. A year Ago I read a book called, " The footprints of god" by Greg Iles. And its just about this topic. Is science fiction, but the good kind of sci-fi. I highly recomendet it.

[@Ton369]

M from James Bond is my favorite character too !

[@dhruvbabani3642]

i liked your speech.And you made me a different person,before of you i have seen this theory.bt thank you,because you gave informations that i did not know.HI,i am14 years old

[@TheDaaabou]

Wow man you look so far in the future!

[@thaddeusexmachina27]

so, you're inventing a super high tech magic 8 ball?

[@benzur3503]

He makes a gigantic pile of assumptions based on contemporary statistics, in not worried by this spitballing

[@DylanKoch96]

ben zur yea he literally has nothing to back any of his claims

[@SPIKESPIEGEL1969]

he made so many assumptions that i had to stop counting them. horrible talk

[@tellingfoxtales]

He's speculating, without people speculating research would be blunt, having little direction.

[@ruiningwang1644]

Of course he's not an experimental scientist. You should look at him more like a somehow documented science-fiction writer. And I don't mean that in a demeaning way! On the contrary, I'm a big fan of science-fiction! Why? Because I think that there is a lot we can learn about our own existence by juxtaposing and comparing these fictional realities to the world we live in ourselves. This video for instance made me think about the extent to which we treat ourselves the same way EMs would be treated in a competitive job market. It made me ponder the possibility that even if I was as smart as an EM, I could still feel very unhappy. It made be wonder about where life begins and where life ends. That's much more than I could ask for in a TED talk!

[@monkadelic13]

you get up in front of an audience and talk instead of being a keyboard warrior to make your points jackass

[@ArmanOspan]

like in "her" movie

[@pumpuppthevolume]

Arman Ospan r u kidding...... that wasn't a scanned person...... watch black mirror

[@venkatchait007]

don't even talk about that silly movie, we are trying to be serious here.

[@niklas63]

The plot of Transcendens

[@taramcguire4764]

This reminds me of the old 70s movie Invasion of the body snatchers and the 70s movie The stepford wives

[@RobertShaverOfAustin]

I think Mr. Hanson makes some good points, but has two narrow an imagination about how Ems might work. For example, when he talks about cloning a copy that will do some work for the "mother" Em, and then stops (dies), I can see no technical reason why the "child" clone's memories could not be added back into the Mother-Em's memories. Also, second of his three assumptions about what is necessary to make Ems happen is too simplistic. He said that we will "scan the human brain and find chemical and spacial data" that defines what a human person is. I think it's going to be a lot harder than that. We really don't know what makes us human or where the seat of our "being" really is. By the time we figure this out, if we ever do, we will know so much more about our "being" physiology than we do now that we could make a great many changes to our "being" to "improve"; both for good and bad. I just finished a novel trilogy known as _Bobiverse_ by Dennis E. Taylor (link below). In it a guy named Bob is scanned after death and wakes up as a slave in a computer. Later he breaks free and manages to clone himself. But the most likely outcome, it seems to me, is that the first people to awake in a computer will have no civil rights and be force to do the bidding of the owners of the hardware in which they have their being. www.goodreads.com/series/192752-bobiverse

[@SiimLand]

The future EM-s will all be like: "I have no memory of this place"

[@EB0322]

As Ross said We can live forever as a machine !

[@lydiaperistera5553]

11:11 part of larger creature !!!

[@00BillyTorontoBill]

hehe I have 2 x64gb cards for my phone. If I wanted to load them with reference material. What do you pick. D/L Wikipedia? only 51 gb apparently. or just load up on science and history book pdf's I want offline wikipedia with good sources...lol any ideas?

[@demiurge8480]

can someone tell me what his qualifications are and how its relevant to the topic ?

[@TomPark1986]

Topic is ad-hoc at best.

[@pumpuppthevolume]

Demiurge he is a gardner... :P jk ...... also have u heard of google

[@novotnybrandon]

I think the speaker assumes the first Em would allow others to be made. A single Em could have boundless knowledge despite who they were in life. Even if you added other Ems wouldn't it be more likely that they just merge?

[@massmade8362]

S O M A ...

[@Kabodanki]

Ghost In The FucKing Shells

[@238Hero238]

That's what I thought

[@indypitcher686]

that's EXACTLY what i thought of!

[@charronfamilyconnect]

How do you upload consciousness, Personalities etc...

[@giovannibini6809]

exchanging each of your neurons one by one with microprocessors. That way the upload will be gradual, there won't be an original you anymore and you won't even notice

[@tigabumi]

Reminds me of San Junipero

[@999CATZ]

Looks like the Ultron guy.. that transport itself whenever it feels like it

[@alexicordeiro-beaupre2415]

Would it be possible to connect my brain to virtual world and be an em?

[@val.teacup]

Very interesting presentation!

[@andrewgodly5739]

I find solace in the thought of eternal sleep, non-existence. I may not be around but the impact I've had upon the world, big or small, will continue to shape the future. I live on borrowed time and resources. My death is the only way to return what I have borrowed so that life can be born again from my ashes

[@DW-vl2wi]

Andrew Godly Except too many people are religious and choose or are forced into burial, in which case all of the giving back is ripped to shreds and instead you end up taking space for no good reason whatsoever.

[@zawsrdtygbhjimokpl6998]

dis i enjoyed

[@julie9883]

One hour ago i went in a simulation and 30 years had passed in my mind but just one hour in reality

[@TheProRebel00]

So you can make a copy of me that can replace me and has my memories and act exactly like i do? This is scary.

[@cristiantellez9170]

Anyone from upload?

[@panchri]

When I close my eyes, he sounds like Major Nelson

[@4relevants]

I do not feel myself at the moment.. why?

[@kinsmed]

You would not be uploading your mind, you would be uploading data. Furthermore, that dataset would would be the version of you from that second. We'll never know if that data version of you can learn and interpret as you really would.

[@TomPark1986]

And what about the software to act upon the data? Without it it would just be a hard-drive.

[@Di0nysys]

The software is the copy of the human mind, "emulating" the way a brain functions in much the same way a Nintendo 64 emulator emulates the N64's functions in software. It's essentially a copy of how a human brain operates, and for all intents and purposes, it is a human mind, living inside of a machine.

[@georgeflitzer7160]

He is the “Borg” coming for us!

[@coisalinda2424]

I want to upload my brain to a computer 💻 today

[@CapnBlood]

So why is the age of Ems only going to last about 2 years as he says? He says he doesn't know what will happen but doesn't explain at all why he knows something will have to happen. If Ems are in virtual space and as he says don't care about the physical world except forr their own security what would prevent them from taking over in the physical realm too. He doesn't really explain that either I don't think unless I forgot. Any ideas?

[@tariqbinsunkar6788]

He is so nervous I guess he practiced his presentation more than 20 times to get ready

[@tokyo_taxi7835]

I'm an introvert, so I guess I'm not productive. XD

[@jonasstrmland4655]

@INNOCENT SCIENCE can we start a company..!

[@Kasowsk2012]

Can they make something similar with ant brains? Or do we already have this?

[@macoladonc6916]

He looks and sounds insanely nervous

[@Jarheads4Yeshua]

Most people are nervous when giving speeches in front of large audiences.

[@true7285]

I'd be too, if I had to give a sales pitch convincing the masses to join a digital dystopia.

[@chasemcdaniel3620]

The only real way I can envision real mind transfer is to be connected to a robot. While I'm connected im seeing through 4 eyes and I'm moving 2 bodies simultaneously. Then my human body is given a sedative and slowly put into a coma. While I remain looking through the robot eyes or virtual world eyes etc.. That actually seems plausible.

[@togethergutlesss]

imagine an ems downloaded into a robot body with VR intergrated into it vision to make it view its robot body as human so it dose not know its different from anyone else.

[@zackarytherrien]

I think people in this comment section need to read more books. I recommend reading Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom.

[@user-bj6ul8vp3f]

シビュラシステムはこのシステムの前身といえるのかな

[@nolansprojects2840]

This is by far the best thought towards AI I have heard... It actually makes sense, and it has plausible theory backing it

[@studio-ex6mt]

wow

[@alexion2778]

Any strong AI would bring a evolution to our human, no matter how we achive it. But before being immortal, there's a big gap ahead. I've interested in books and articles about "uploading brains", and recent research shows, our brains have something to do with quantum physics. That means we may not able to simply "scan & copy" our brains into a computer, even in theory. Or at least, we need to "reconstruct" our brain logic to make it work in the computer. That's a bad news for me, but I'm still optimistic about strong AI.

[@brandonhooper7748]

"you are The BOB"

[@jackpullen3820]

You can even have a split personality!

[@douglasatlas1992]

The movie Transcendence by johny deep could be real.

[@jeronimo196]

Religious EMs. I lol-ed. But I really like the plumber living a life of leisure with one in a thousand chance to see tomorrow once he is on the job. I'll read the book.

[@gabrielasis1261]

BBC & HBO'S "YEARS AND YEARS", Y'ALL

[@fjellyo3261]

You can see his stage fright^^. But that's normal I guess.

[@solelgammal]

Oh no I forget my Google drive password I guess I can’t access my brain anymore

[@AlviKoi]

Is that Robert Sheckley?

[@fikistoraro5967]

WHAT THE ... I TOUGHT THERE IS A BURGLAR IN MY HOUSE ON 6:02

[@daylight-studios]

Can I donate my body to this please I'll sign a release form and everything

[@AlmostEthical]

Why would an Em need to work as a plumber? Or work at all?

[@eatdirtnetwork]

I am asking a serious question, What does he mean the Age of Em only lasts a year?

[@fireofthecity3518]

This guy is insane

[@demonlord5835]

Importantly has its cost's

[@demonlord5835]

Imortantly

[@spikysphere3297]

reminds me of Black Mirror - White Christmas

[@TheRainySky]

Well this is a weird one

[@microarctic1123]

What if we already did, regressed and forgot how to get out, started ground up from stone age and now heading for the next layer of sim

[@coudry1]

If everything has been uploaded, will the person be killed or are they waiting to die?

[@QasimAlKhuzaie]

What if we are the 'Em's?

[@DigitalCosmos555]

Qasim Al Khuzaie dun dun duuuun

[@vincentkim4844]

That's creepy ;(

[@gratemusic3008]

😵 good 1

[@amandamc6569]

His nervousness is giving me high anxiety

[@uzitrapppin6930]

We already have with brain scans and neuron models but it’s not conscious

[@srivelayudham8965]

Who here after watch Maayavan Movie?

[@PinkProgram]

Hybrot Singularity. What you are calling an Em I call a Tulpa Simulacra. An Inception Kernel or core of a TS can be copied indefinitely and each copy can merge and mesh to form a larger entity like cells in a slime mold or zooids in a salp chain. A TS is a direct copy of a human but is not a human. Tulpa Artilects are inception kernels that are not directly copied but are instead crafted by a human. Inception kernels developed by a machine are Turing Artilects. Turings or tulpas can inhabit Oberon Brain hybrot neural networks or have physical homunculi. You can also have tulpas generated by brainet gestalts where several humans and possibly nonhumans pool their minds to form an intelligent entity. Sysops in an Oberon Brain could be gestalts operating Neural Observed Object environments (NOOsphere).

[@XXszymon21XXpl]

This man could lead me to have anxiety with all the panting...

[@faustin289]

_You could say _*_I am a new short-time creature with a short life, I hate this_*_ or you could say _*_I'm part of a larger creature that will not remember me._* This applies to our current human condition as well. Some think they are tiny specks of reality without purpose. Some others think they are part of a larger godly entity and were put here for a specific purpose. You just chose what to believe.

[@mortimerhasbeengud2834]

I bought Hansen's book earlier this year, and it seemed gloomy to me, Or. rather, uninspiring. My own guess, is, that the huge advance in computing will come from quantum computing, and when it is set to make and improve technology, things that we can only dream of this year, will be achieved. Hansen is still dealing with what I term, Guy in a Box,' view of AI. The machine imitates a guy inside a box of a robot, and everyone cheers. We are probably already there with bots, and Siri, Alexa, but I am focusing on what a truly, powerful, computer can do; take wide-spread science info, and combine it into something new. Resulting in far better energy sources, medicine, and spacecraft.

[@MrGamers79]

French subtitle please :)

[@MrGamers79]

beliefless dogmasless why ?

[@MrGamers79]

beliefless dogmasless J'ai pas compris ce que tu dis. Le guars névrotique ?

[@MrGamers79]

a ok ^^

[@yumeflo]

Quant à moi j'ai trouvé cette vidéo très intéressante... Le mieux est que chacun se fasse sa propre opinion. Et des sous-titres seraient bienvenus (pas le temps en ce qui me concerne)

[@yumeflo]

Tu as répondu "not worth it" à la demande de sous-titres de Thom, je suppose donc que tu l'as découragé de se faire sa propre opinion en affirmant que la vidéo ne valait pas la peine d'être regardée ?

[@smoothjamie4046]

2:41 Quote "if your not a bit disturbed by what I'm saying here you're just not paying attention". I find it slightly offensive that he presumes we're all not paying attention, when by the end of the talk I'm actually wondering what actual evidence he has used to base his "analysis". Making a bunch of assumptions isn't the same as taking a set of data and using an algorithm, I'm certainly not holding any stock in this 12 mins of absolute guff.

[@Adrian_Galilea]

Never actually considered this points, not meant to sound arrogant, but most of the videos on this topics are sadly foreseeable and often, at least from my perspective, wrong. Thanks for making me think.

[@tonyomartin8837]

You guys clearly dont see that this guy actually just made a huge discovery , for instance imagine if we lived lived in a virtual simulation this would mean everything and anything would be possible inside that simulation including immortality imagine being able to do anything you want and playing god in a simulator an actually creating another universe inside that universe the possiblities are endless.

[@noctarin1516]

I dont really want to live in a simulated world, I want to be inside a computer but still be aware of the physical world

[@user-fc4so8of8o]

With the current data mining going on even in MS Windows this is not a good idea. I don't think this is really relevant until we have some sort of really big FOSS revolution and we moved away from "the cloud".

[@Super02Roblox]

Hi

[@fakedeltatime]

Not really a talk about "uploading" one's brain, but an interesting talk nevertheless.