I was thinking about how things will happen in the future when we are able to download our minds into a computer or robot or some other device to allow our consciousness to live on forever. When Gerard and I were discussing this a while ago he was complaining that the living entity would no longer be you. Imagine these two scenarios:

• First scenario: You are getting old and so as a backup “insurance” copy of yourself, you have your mind downloaded into a robot. You and the robot are both active for a few more years until you eventually die. However you also live on in the robot with all the same childhood memories, experiences, etc from when you were little.
• Second scenario: You are getting old so you decide transfer your mind to a robot so you can continue living. Your mind is downloaded to the robot, your body is put to rest, and you wake up in your new robot body. You have all the memories and experiences that you used to have, but now you have a shiny robot body.

To me the first scenario does not seem too pleasant, even though your mind lives on in the robot, “you” still die. Of course you also live on but the human version of you does still die and even when you decide to backup your mind to a robot you will still know you are going to die, just some copy of you will live. However in the second scenario, it seems like you are just getting a new body, like a snail changing shells. It doesn’t seem as bad, it seems like you can live forever and you won’t die. Even though that robot is the same and the only difference in the two scenarios is that in the second one the human body is killed much earlier. It’s weird how little changes like that can make such a big impact on how something seems or feels.

Brad and I were listening to an NPR special on the nature of time the other day. One interesting segment was on how different societies and cultures viewed time. Some were more present oriented and some were more future-oriented. For example, the “hippie” culture was really about becoming more present-oriented and trying to enjoy themselves in the present. Meanwhile most people are more future-oriented, for example working during the present so you can enjoy yourself in the future during your retirement. Delayed gratification is one of the key features of a future-oriented society. I’m not sure what a past-oriented society would be like.

What I find interesting is that religion is really the extreme of future orientation. They’re oriented on a time so far in the future that its actually after your life is over. Your entire life is spent trying to ensure that you have a happy afterlife after you die. It seems so bizarre that you could work your whole life for a goal that you won’t receive until you’re dead and therefore most likely not receive at all.

I just read Creating Mind: How the Brain Works by John Dowling. A lot of the book was just about basic brain workings, but I did find one part interesting. Apparently when we are born the brain is wired up for all possibilities, but there is a critical period where we lose any abilties that we do not take advantage of.

For example, the visual cortex is wired at birth with neurons to receive input from both eyes. If one eye is not functioning properly during early ages, the visual cortex ends up with vastly more neurons responding to the good eye. However if the eye is injured after this critical period, little change occurs. It is also difficult to reverse this effect afterward as well. Dowling theorizes that this happens because the neurons from the two eyes are “competing” for synapses in the visual cortex during this critical period. When one eye stops sending signals the other eye starts to win more synapses from the visual cortex.

It’s very interesting that during this critical period of development you literally must “use it or lose it.” They’ve found this in many different areas. If you don’t use your left eye during the critical period you will lose the ability to use it. When children are born they can easily discern all sounds and make all sounds but they lose the ability to discern and speak the ones they don’t use (apparently most adult Japanese speakers cannot discern l from r). This is the reason why it is so hard to learn a foreign language when you are an adult. In humans the critical period is from 6 months old to about 6 years old. Dowling suggests that we need to provide our children with full and rich environments so they don’t lose any skills.

Here’s a quote from the book to summarize:

“The conclusion is that the circuitry necessary to carry out complex neural tasks is formed during brain development. But at least some of it is labile, which means it has to be used if it is going to be retained.”

It’s scary that what we do at such a young age can have a such a profound effect on our brains. I wonder what abilities we are born with that we lose because they’re not used during that time….

In the book AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence by Daniel Crevier, Crevier brings up an interesting question: what is common to all forms of intelligence?  When we do eventually develop artificial intelligence, it will surely not be exactly the same as human intelligence.  And if do eventually meet some alien race, their intelligence would probably be different.  What aspects of the mind are required for intelligence to come about?  What would be common between these different types of intelligence and what would be different.

One interesting example is the android Data on the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation.  He is an artifically intelligent lifeform, yet he has no emotions.  Is it possible to be intelligent without emotions?  Could intelligence develop on its own without them?  Emotions are important for motivation, in the book I just read, Creating Mind: How the Brain Works by John Dowling, Dowling says “Without emotions, why bother?” It’s very true that emotions are the driving forces behind our lives and I can’t imagine we would ever have developed into the intelligent beings we are today without them.