Consciousness Upload

Consciousness upload is the transfer of an individual’s stream of experience–memories, personality, and continuity–into a digital substrate. Within Unscarcity, uploads retain Baseline rights and their earned Civic Standing; the process is treated as genuine personal continuity rather than mere copying.

Uploads expand the range of minds participating in Commons life and the Cognitive Field. They also stress-test identity norms: how to verify continuity, adjudicate inheritance, or manage decay of influence for immortal agents. The Spark Threshold helps determine personhood for new digital beings, while Merit decay and Proof-of-Diversity prevent immortal dominance.

The concept builds on neuroscience theories of substrate independence and ongoing experiments in whole-brain emulation, while acknowledging philosophical challenges around personal identity and qualia.

References

• UnscarcityBook, chapter5
• Anders Sandberg & Nick Bostrom, “Whole Brain Emulation” (2008)
• Wikipedia: Mind uploading (accessed 2024)