Live data from Hacker News

A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

technologyreview.com

301–310 of 441 posts

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#301
Maybe I'm a bit jaded...but I don't like this. Or any of the 'anti-aging' initiatives. Natural death is a beautiful thing; it's a part of life. I'll be honored to die a natural death at a normal age. I don't want to live forever - even at my age I feel the world is changing out from underneath me. Friends and family tick off one by one each year. I'm not too old yet, but already appreciative of the time I've been given. Not sure why anyone who values human relationship would want to 'live forever', even if it's just in digital form.

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#302
post #301

Maybe I'm a bit jaded...but I don't like this. Or any of the 'anti-aging' initiatives. Natural death is a beautiful thing; it's a part of life. I'll be honored to die a natural death at a normal age. I don't want to live forever - even at my age I feel the world is changing out from underneath me. Friends and family tick off one by one each year. I'm not too old yet, but already appreciative of the time I've been giv…

What constitutes a natural death? We used to die at 40 now we die at 80. Is that natural? At what point does natural become unnatural?

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Memorize a private key to a Crypto wallet and transfer all of your assets to it in the days leading up to uploading? And of course let everyone know that's the case beforehand!

What if it's cheaper to extract the key from your brain and dump the rest?

It's unclear that that's possible, though.

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#304
post #301

Maybe I'm a bit jaded...but I don't like this. Or any of the 'anti-aging' initiatives. Natural death is a beautiful thing; it's a part of life. I'll be honored to die a natural death at a normal age. I don't want to live forever - even at my age I feel the world is changing out from underneath me. Friends and family tick off one by one each year. I'm not too old yet, but already appreciative of the time I've been giv…

What constitutes a natural death? We used to die at 40 now we die at 80. Is that natural? At what point does natural become unnatural?

Natural in the context of not being murdered or otherwise unlucky. I really feel especially for say, kids who get terminal diseases before they reach their teens, so I'll throw that in. I'm not old yet, but I've gotten to experience a lot of life to the point where I'd accept my fate. Sorry for the nonanswer, but it requires a bit of thinking and opinion.

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#305
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What constitutes a natural death? We used to die at 40 now we die at 80. Is that natural? At what point does natural become unnatural?

Natural in the context of not being murdered or otherwise unlucky. I really feel especially for say, kids who get terminal diseases before they reach their teens, so I'll throw that in. I'm not old yet, but I've gotten to experience a lot of life to the point where I'd accept my fate. Sorry for the nonanswer, but it requires a bit of thinking and opinion.

If medicine advanced to the point of repairing your body to be able to live a healthy life indefinitely would you try stay healthy using the best science has to offer or would you not?

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#306
post #185

This is going to sound a bit out there, but what if your brain is simply an antenna for your consciousness to come through from wherever. Has anyone actually tried to boot up an artificial brain derived from a real organism? I'd like to see a proof of concept that your brain IS indeed the seat of your consciousness, and not just a fancy quantum antenna.

Even assuming that it is an antenna, then if your antenna is the only one receiving your consciousness then it is the seat of your consciousness or equivalent, i.e. its reasonable to assume that if you restore the antenna you will restore the consciousness in place (I am leveraging the fact that you called it a seat). On the other side of the coin, with embodied consciousness you could raise other potential issues wi…

Well, maybe if that theory is true, then if the connection is "severed," so to speak, there's no way to restore it?

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#307
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Natural in the context of not being murdered or otherwise unlucky. I really feel especially for say, kids who get terminal diseases before they reach their teens, so I'll throw that in. I'm not old yet, but I've gotten to experience a lot of life to the point where I'd accept my fate. Sorry for the nonanswer, but it requires a bit of thinking and opinion.

If medicine advanced to the point of repairing your body to be able to live a healthy life indefinitely would you try stay healthy using the best science has to offer or would you not?

It would depend on a lot of factors. Can everyone afford it, even my poorer friends and family? Is the population booming? Off the cuff - no. If we all lived forever there'd be no world change, the birth rate would have to drop by a ton to near zero, etc. The older I become, the more set in my ways I become. That's just natural, even if you consciously fight it. Imagine where we'd be as a society if they'd discovered how to live forever in the caveman days...

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#308
post #301

Maybe I'm a bit jaded...but I don't like this. Or any of the 'anti-aging' initiatives. Natural death is a beautiful thing; it's a part of life. I'll be honored to die a natural death at a normal age. I don't want to live forever - even at my age I feel the world is changing out from underneath me. Friends and family tick off one by one each year. I'm not too old yet, but already appreciative of the time I've been giv…

It's not so much "forever" as "longer". I may want to die eventually, just not.. yet.

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#309
post #301

Maybe I'm a bit jaded...but I don't like this. Or any of the 'anti-aging' initiatives. Natural death is a beautiful thing; it's a part of life. I'll be honored to die a natural death at a normal age. I don't want to live forever - even at my age I feel the world is changing out from underneath me. Friends and family tick off one by one each year. I'm not too old yet, but already appreciative of the time I've been giv…

It's not so much "forever" as "longer". I may want to die eventually, just not.. yet.

when does 'longer' end? 80? 120? 150? It's a hard question.

Re: A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”

#310
post #301

Maybe I'm a bit jaded...but I don't like this. Or any of the 'anti-aging' initiatives. Natural death is a beautiful thing; it's a part of life. I'll be honored to die a natural death at a normal age. I don't want to live forever - even at my age I feel the world is changing out from underneath me. Friends and family tick off one by one each year. I'm not too old yet, but already appreciative of the time I've been giv…

>> Natural death is a beautiful thing; it's a part of life. I'll be honored to die a natural death at a normal age.

I completely disagree. Natural death is not a beautiful thing, and is sometimes painful. Even if I don't want to live forever, I'd like to be given the choice of when to die, basically when I'm tired of living.

Maybe you still don't agree, but would you have thought differently if all your friends and family also have that choice?

Post reply on HN