I would be interested to know how you plan to demonstrate to the world that the experiment was a success.
If the goal was to upload a cat, for example, you could demonstrate that it runs under the simulated couch when a simulated vacuum cleaner comes around and that it runs into the simulated kitchen when it hears a simulated electric can opener. I am curious what high-level behaviors are considered typical of C. elegans.
He mentions that in the video—there’s a list of stereotypical behaviors, when X happens the worm turns around, etc. Having the simulation behave the same way would be a good sign.
He also mentions zapping neurons to see what happens without them; though I’m less sure if that is to be used as an additional test of model validity, or just as a way to figure out which neurons do what.
I imagine that a video of the uploaded worm moving in some artificial environment, reacting like a real worm, could be impressive. Even more impressive would be to test some genetic modifications on the virtual worm, which would also work on the real worm; e.g. an ability to eat some kind of waste we need to remove from environment. (I assume that with enough computer power, testing on virtual worms could be faster than testing real worms.)
Last but not least, when humans get uploaded, virtual worms could be used as a food source. :D
I would be interested to know how you plan to demonstrate to the world that the experiment was a success.
If the goal was to upload a cat, for example, you could demonstrate that it runs under the simulated couch when a simulated vacuum cleaner comes around and that it runs into the simulated kitchen when it hears a simulated electric can opener. I am curious what high-level behaviors are considered typical of C. elegans.
He mentions that in the video—there’s a list of stereotypical behaviors, when X happens the worm turns around, etc. Having the simulation behave the same way would be a good sign.
He also mentions zapping neurons to see what happens without them; though I’m less sure if that is to be used as an additional test of model validity, or just as a way to figure out which neurons do what.
I imagine that a video of the uploaded worm moving in some artificial environment, reacting like a real worm, could be impressive. Even more impressive would be to test some genetic modifications on the virtual worm, which would also work on the real worm; e.g. an ability to eat some kind of waste we need to remove from environment. (I assume that with enough computer power, testing on virtual worms could be faster than testing real worms.)
Last but not least, when humans get uploaded, virtual worms could be used as a food source. :D
I won’t subject you to cute cat stories, but real cats do weird things as well as stereotypical things.