MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading • Hacker News Board

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#21

Post by glorkk » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:17 PM UTC

> “Fundamentally, the company is based on a proposition that is just false. It is something that just can’t happen,” says Sten Linnarsson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

That sounds a lot like the "heavier than air flight is impossible" quote from 1895.

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#22

Post by spudlyo » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:18 PM UTC

It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct, a hardwired ROM cassette replicating a dead man's skills, obsessions, knee-jerk responses. --Neuromancer

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#23

Post by 2fifty3 » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:21 PM UTC

brohee wrote: post #12

bentruyman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are certain browser APIs disabled in the browser in incognito mode that can be detected. How else would you implement incognito mode?

By sandboxing, e.g. localStorage fully functional but deleted at the end of the session...

Mozilla recently released containerized tabs[0], I imagine the next logic step is building containerized Private Browsing Mode

[0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#24

Post by joefourier » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:21 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #5

For those who are unfamiliar with the general concept, there are several organizations that will be happy to take large sums of money from you, for a scientifically sketchy claim at resurrection at some future unknown date. https://www.google.ca/search?q=alcor+cryonics&oq=alcor+cryon...

Given that the main alternatives (decomposing in a box or being cremated) involve a 0% chance of resuscitation at some future unknown date, cryonics seems like the rational choice to make.

Alcor has so far shown itself to be a fairly reliable cryonics provider and the sums of money are not extreme - neuropreservation being only $80,000, or a life insurance policy of ~$30-$150/month.

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#25

Post by trgv » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:22 PM UTC

For those interested in this stuff, or the "we will preserve your body and resurrect you in some date in the future" technology, I recommend a Don Delillo novel from a couple years ago, title is Zero K.

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#26

Post by etrautmann » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:22 PM UTC

Brain uploading is a misleading description of what nectome is proposing. We don’t know enough about what needs to be preserved yet to accurately save a snapshot of a brain’s “state”. It’s not theoretically impossible, just much further than this company’s marketing implies.

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#27

Post by fixermark » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:24 PM UTC

Sometimes, a headline is just so good you don't even need to read the article.

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#28

Post by Analemma_ » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:24 PM UTC

trevyn wrote: post #20

Analemma_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Resurrection, while not impossible , is sufficiently unlikely that taking people's money while promising it-- even with a disclaimer that it is not guaranteed-- seems exploitative, akin to people promising homeopathic cancer remedies. It is preying on people's fear of death.

No cryonics organization promises it.

I used to get in a lot of arguments online about cryonics back in the day (it's very possible that you and I have had this debate under different usernames on that other site for Valley nerd-types); they always went nowhere and I'm not interested in getting back into them. Suffice to say that I'm not convinced by cryonics organizations' "we're not promising anything" disclaimers: I think these are done with a knowing wink and that they use Pascal's mugging-style "what have you got to lose?" arguments to bypass concerns about their feasibility to get your money.

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#29

Post by ilamont » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:25 PM UTC

Never thought I would ask something like this, but here goes:

What's Y Combinator's stance on the death requirement? Nectome was at demo day last month and Sam Altman is (or was) on the waiting list.

Following the example of electric-vehicle maker Tesla, it is sizing up demand by inviting prospective customers to join a waiting list for a deposit of $10,000, fully refundable if you change your mind.

So far, 25 people have done so. One of them is Sam Altman, a 32-year-old investor who is one of the creators of the Y Combinator program.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610456/a-startup-is-pitch...

Re: MIT severs ties to company promoting fatal brain uploading

#30

Post by Eliezer » Tue, Apr 03, 2018, 6:25 PM UTC

lvs wrote: post #19

zitterbewegung wrote: post #4

MITs statement seems to position themselves to not be at risk if the startup goes south. They seem to think that with current technology it is unclear if the upload is feasible. Also, it would be interesting for someone to comment on how this embalming process is done? From what I know from cryogenic freezing or preservation is that it is a good idea that it could be "scanned" back in but most likely the information…

> ... if the startup goes south The startup is a snake oil scam. It is by definition "south." It is not "unclear if the upload is feasible." It is simply NOT feasible.

The startup is not claiming to have current uploading technology. The startup is researching (does not claim to have) brain preservation techniques leading to long-term structure preservation in hopes of uploading sometime in the indefinite future. If your personal opinion is that this cannot happen, that does not make other people who have different beliefs and are upfront about their arguments for them "scammers".