Actually, http://lesswrong.com/lw/7ve/paper_draft_coalescing_minds_brain/ seems to discuss a way of upload being non-destructive transition. We know that brain can learn to use implanted neurons under some very special conditions now; so maybe you could first learn to use an artificial mind-holder (without a mind yet) as a minor supplement and then learn to use it more and more until death of your original brain is just a flesh wound. Maybe not—but it does seem to be a technological problem.
Yeah, I was assuming a destructive upload for simplicity’s sake. Processes similar to the one you outline don’t generate an obvious discontinuity, so I imagine they’d seem less intuitively scary; still, a strong Searlean viewpoint probably wouldn’t accept them.
Actually, http://lesswrong.com/lw/7ve/paper_draft_coalescing_minds_brain/ seems to discuss a way of upload being non-destructive transition. We know that brain can learn to use implanted neurons under some very special conditions now; so maybe you could first learn to use an artificial mind-holder (without a mind yet) as a minor supplement and then learn to use it more and more until death of your original brain is just a flesh wound. Maybe not—but it does seem to be a technological problem.
Yeah, I was assuming a destructive upload for simplicity’s sake. Processes similar to the one you outline don’t generate an obvious discontinuity, so I imagine they’d seem less intuitively scary; still, a strong Searlean viewpoint probably wouldn’t accept them.