[Preprint for commenting] Digital Immortality: Theory and Protocol for Indirect Mind Uploading

post by avturchin · 2018-03-27T11:49:31.141Z · LW · GW · 5 comments

Contents

5 comments

I would like to get useful input for the following text :

"Digital Immortality: Theory and Protocol for Indirect Mind Uploading"

Abstract. Future superintelligent AI will be able to reconstruct a model of the personality of a person who lived in the past based on informational traces. This could be regarded as some form of immortality if this AI also solves the problem of personal identity in a copy-friendly way. A person who is currently alive could invest now in passive self-recording and active self-description to facilitate such reconstruction. In this article, we analyze informational-theoretical relationships between the human mind, its traces, and its future model; based on this analysis, we suggest the instruments to most cost-effectively collect quality data about a person for future resurrection. These guidelines form a “digital immortality protocol”. Digital immortality is plan C for achieving immortality, after plan A, life extension, and plan B, cryonics.

Keywords: Digital immortality – superintelligence – effective altruism – life extension – mind uploading.

Highlights:

· Future superintelligent AI will be able to simulate past people.

· To help AI improve its simulations, we can collect data about a living person now.

· Passive data collection is constant recording.

· Active data collection is running tests and recording self-description.

· The best way to collect information is to create art, as it is unique, valuable, and predictive.

Full text is open for commenting: https://goo.gl/QkDfdU

5 comments

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comment by Gordon Seidoh Worley (gworley) · 2018-03-27T19:12:57.969Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I was going to say "hey, this reminds me a lot of Terasem" and then sure enough you reference them right away!

I'm pretty sympathetic to this idea, to the point that at one time I was working our writing a story where a key feature would be what I called "book people" who are dead people kept "alive" by a team of a dozen or so people who collectively simulate them with the aid of books to serve as long term memory. Similar ideas have popped up elsewhere in science fiction.

I unfortunately don't have time to look at this closely right now, but skimming through I see you cover a lot of ground in one place, and I don't think these ideas have been pulled together in one place before in this way, so thank you for doing that!

Replies from: avturchin
↑ comment by avturchin · 2018-03-27T21:55:56.417Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Thanks! It seems that the opportunity to revive a person's mind via "viral autobiography" seems to be under-explored, but your idea is something like this :)

comment by Davidmanheim · 2018-03-27T13:16:51.315Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Really good job overall!

See comments on article - I had a number of critiques, but most were addressed later. I think that just means you need to caveat the earlier statements a bit more, and reference the fact that you will address them. (But I tend to foreshadow too much in my writing, so maybe your level of structure is sufficient.)

Replies from: avturchin
↑ comment by avturchin · 2018-03-27T13:22:54.405Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Thank you! I see your comments and later will manually transfer them into the main text. Some ideas may seems too obvious to me, but surely caveats will help.

Replies from: Davidmanheim
↑ comment by Davidmanheim · 2018-03-27T14:15:01.269Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I'm somewhat, but not very, familiar with the ideas. Depending on your audience, you may already be sufficiently clear, but for a broad audience it seems likely that more clarification is ideal.