Legally, a mind upload is only different from any other medical scan in mere quantity, and a simulation of brain is only qualitatively different from any other processing. Just as the cryopreservation is only a form of burial.
Furthermore, while it would seem to be better to magically have the mind uploading completely figured out without any experimentation on human mind uploads, we aren’t writing a science fiction/fantasy story, we are actually building the damn thing in the real world where things tend to go wrong.
edit: also, a rather strong point can be made that it is more ethical to experiment on a copy of yourself than on a copy of your cat or any other not completely stupid mammal. The consent matters.
This is an area that hasn’t been addressed by the law, for the very good reason that it isn’t close to being a problem yet. I don’t know whether people outside LW have been looking at the ethical status of uploads.
I agree with you that there’s no way to have uploading without making mistakes first. And possibly no way to have FAI without it having excellent simulations of people so that it can estimate what to do.
Legally, a mind upload is only different from any other medical scan in mere quantity, and a simulation of brain is only qualitatively different from any other processing. Just as the cryopreservation is only a form of burial.
Furthermore, while it would seem to be better to magically have the mind uploading completely figured out without any experimentation on human mind uploads, we aren’t writing a science fiction/fantasy story, we are actually building the damn thing in the real world where things tend to go wrong.
edit: also, a rather strong point can be made that it is more ethical to experiment on a copy of yourself than on a copy of your cat or any other not completely stupid mammal. The consent matters.
This is an area that hasn’t been addressed by the law, for the very good reason that it isn’t close to being a problem yet. I don’t know whether people outside LW have been looking at the ethical status of uploads.
I agree with you that there’s no way to have uploading without making mistakes first. And possibly no way to have FAI without it having excellent simulations of people so that it can estimate what to do.
That’s a good point about consent.