This will end up being important if the details of these systems are important for encoding the differences between humans rather than just important for having a properly functioning brain. If it’s just important for proper functioning, we can just figure it out once and then assume that the brain you’re reconstructing has these systems in good working order. If it’s important for encoding the differences between humans then we’d have to preserve these systems to preserve “you”.
I’m reminded of Charles Stross on space colonization, where he talks about how it’s a bit too late to realize you forgot the (insert essential mineral here) supplement when your interstellar generation ship starts coming down with the purple polkadot scurvy at 0.001c and boosting. There’s a reason we can’t reliably provision a generation ship, and it’s that we have never yet tried to completely and permanently sever ourselves from Earth’s ecology and biosphere. We may think we’ve got it all covered, but if there’s a leak in the cycles somewhere, or something missing we never knew was important, our intrepid astronauts are going to be in for a hard time, either immediately or generations later.
This by analogy strikes me as a general problem with uploading, but a specific problem with anything that throws away a lot of “body biosphere”. There will be an initial shakedown period, mostly on animal models, where we learn the obvious breakages (some of which are likely to only show up in human uploads because they create subtler kinds of mental illness). But it’s going to be hard to be sure we have eliminated all the deficiencies and closed all the feedback loops. It will just plain take time, and a lot of unpleasantness and health scares.
There’s a reason we can’t reliably provision a generation ship, and it’s that we have never yet tried to completely and permanently sever ourselves from Earth’s ecology and biosphere. We may think we’ve got it all covered, but if there’s a leak in the cycles somewhere, or something missing we never knew was important, our intrepid astronauts are going to be in for a hard time, either immediately or generations later.
So redo Biosphere 2, for longer. Even the first time it was done, it worked remarkably well! They did make some mistakes but recovered, and came out healthier than they went in. That suggests a multi-generation-capable version is not as far off as one might pessmistically conclude. The most valuable information is always the first information—if a problem doesn’t appear quickly, then it probably isn’t that important...
if a problem doesn’t appear quickly, then it probably isn’t that important...
I agree completely, especially about how close we probably are to a successful Biosphere, but just to throw out an example where this is wrong: vitamin B-12 deficiency usually takes a decade to demonstrate symptoms, and is fatal.
This will end up being important if the details of these systems are important for encoding the differences between humans rather than just important for having a properly functioning brain. If it’s just important for proper functioning, we can just figure it out once and then assume that the brain you’re reconstructing has these systems in good working order. If it’s important for encoding the differences between humans then we’d have to preserve these systems to preserve “you”.
I’m reminded of Charles Stross on space colonization, where he talks about how it’s a bit too late to realize you forgot the (insert essential mineral here) supplement when your interstellar generation ship starts coming down with the purple polkadot scurvy at 0.001c and boosting. There’s a reason we can’t reliably provision a generation ship, and it’s that we have never yet tried to completely and permanently sever ourselves from Earth’s ecology and biosphere. We may think we’ve got it all covered, but if there’s a leak in the cycles somewhere, or something missing we never knew was important, our intrepid astronauts are going to be in for a hard time, either immediately or generations later.
This by analogy strikes me as a general problem with uploading, but a specific problem with anything that throws away a lot of “body biosphere”. There will be an initial shakedown period, mostly on animal models, where we learn the obvious breakages (some of which are likely to only show up in human uploads because they create subtler kinds of mental illness). But it’s going to be hard to be sure we have eliminated all the deficiencies and closed all the feedback loops. It will just plain take time, and a lot of unpleasantness and health scares.
So redo Biosphere 2, for longer. Even the first time it was done, it worked remarkably well! They did make some mistakes but recovered, and came out healthier than they went in. That suggests a multi-generation-capable version is not as far off as one might pessmistically conclude. The most valuable information is always the first information—if a problem doesn’t appear quickly, then it probably isn’t that important...
I agree completely, especially about how close we probably are to a successful Biosphere, but just to throw out an example where this is wrong: vitamin B-12 deficiency usually takes a decade to demonstrate symptoms, and is fatal.