/sci/ - Science & Math

I'm thinking that this is the only way to truly download your consciousness. I'm sure many of you have had this same thought.

Your brain is either 100% you or it's just a tool for your soul to link itself to reality, either way you need it to exist and to exist continuously.

Your brain a biological construction made of around 86 billion neurons. You lose around a gram of brain mass every year after age 20. Obviously, this decrease in mass isn't solely from the loss of neurons but it still comes out to a decrease of about 150 to 200 thousand per day. Which means you can lose quite a bit of brain tissue before things like Alzheimer's set in. You also gain new neurons every day but it's minuscule in comparison to what's being lost.

So, if you had some kind of artificial neuron that preformed the same actions as an organic one then you'd effectively be able to replace the dying neurons with a substitute. If you did this 86 billion times then you'd eventually become a machine without copying your brain or severing your chain of consciousness. Sort of like the Ship of Theseus paradox except instead of a ship crew going on a new boat it's your "consciousness" or "soul".

As scifi as it sounds I'm sure this is the method scientists will use in about 200 years to turn people into machines. What do you think?