[sl4] Wanted - academic discussions of mind uploading

From: Kaj Sotala (xuenay@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Jul 12 2009 - 14:17:04 MDT


I'm playing around with the idea of doing a paper on the hive mind
aspect of an uploaded society (see
http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2009-February/047770.html
for my previous post on the topic), for which I need to do a survery
on the previous academic discussions on mind uploading. Both journal
articles and books are fine - also, if any of you happen to know of
any fictional works concerning uploading where the people involved
eventually develop into a hive mind, do mention them. (Note that I'm
specifically looking for hive minds that have developed from *human
uploads*. I'm not looking for AI hive minds, cyborg hive minds or hive
minds in general - I know that scifi has plenty of *those*.)

Here are the academic uploading articles which I'm already aware of
(which might also be a handy reference for anyone else interested in
the topic).

Non-fiction about uploading in general:

Anders Sandberg & Nick Bostrom (2008): Whole Brain Emulation: A
Roadmap, Technical Report #2008-3. Future of Humanity Institute,
Oxford University. (An analysis of what is yet required for uploads.)
Robin Hanson (1994, 2008): If uploads come first - The crack of a
future dawn; Economics of the Singularity. (Hanson's classic must-read
papers on the economic consequences of uploads.)
Susan Schneider (2008): Future Minds: Transhumanism, Cognitive
Enhancement and the Nature of Persons. Neuroethics Publications.
(Critique of uploading on the grounds that an uploaded copy "would be
just a clone, not you", and seems to assume that this can just be
taken as granted. Groan.)
V. Astakhov (2008): Mind Uploading and Resurrection of Human
Consciousness. Place for Science? NeuroQuantology. (/Seems/ to discuss
some sort of theory for the actual upload process. I think. Not sure
if it's entirely serious, but at least I'm unable to follow it.)
Ray Kurzweil (2005): The Singularity is Near. (Briefly discusses the
possibility of uploading.)
Nick Bostrom (2004): The Future of Human Evolution. In Death and
Anti-Death: Two Hundred Years After Kant, Fifty Years After Turing.
(The only paper I could find that actually discusses a hive mind -like
scenario.)
Hans Moravec (2000): Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind.
(Mentions uploading in the form of a "cyberspace" that people will
move into.)
Robert Harle (2002): Cyborgs, Uploading and Immortality - Some Serious
Concerns. Sophia, Volume 41, Number 2. (Mainly attempts to debunk the
whole idea of uploading. Humorous for stating that "the most serious
problem for uploaders" is the fact that a brain cannot function
without body, completely ignoring the possibility of *gasp* people
also simulating a body. Not very interesting.)
Hans Moravec (1988): Mind Children. (Has a brief description of an
upload process.)



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