Even if academic neuroscientists don’t think much of the project in its current state, it seems likely that $1.4 billion would end up attracting a lot of talent to this problem, and get us the first upload significantly sooner.
This isn’t obvious to me. If it simply too early (due to lack of knowledge especially in relevant connected fields) then this sort of thing could have extreme diminishing marginal returns in investment. If that occurs and it takes talent away from other related areas, this sort of thing could actually slow down research overall. I suspect this isn’t the case in this situation, but it seems probable enough that it should be considered.
This isn’t obvious to me. If it simply too early (due to lack of knowledge especially in relevant connected fields) then this sort of thing could have extreme diminishing marginal returns in investment. If that occurs and it takes talent away from other related areas, this sort of thing could actually slow down research overall. I suspect this isn’t the case in this situation, but it seems probable enough that it should be considered.
If the project is well managed, funds might be invested in research in relevant connected fields.