Is consciousness transferable? It is a significant question. We identify our consciousness with ourselves. If consciousness is transfera...
Is consciousness transferable? It is a significant question. We identify our consciousness with ourselves. If consciousness is transferable, we could transfer ourselves to another body. We could replace our wear-out body with a new one. We could earn eternity. The possibility of transferring consciousness is a determining question. We could get one of God's property, the eternal life, and the chance to even gain more with the unlimited existence: infinite knowledge. Is consciousness transferable?
We do not know what consciousness is, how it emerges from the interactions of billions of neurons. Until we cannot create artificial consciousness, we cannot even be sure if it is created by the matter.
In some thoughts before, a concept gained ground about consciousness. According to that concept, consciousness is a phenomenon of the brain created by an integrative feedback effect of the interacting neurons. If it is true, if the phenomenon of consciousness is an integrative feedback effect, then we may answer the question of the transferability of consciousness.
Considering this concept, consciousness is not something what we can grab and take to somewhere else then. Consciousness is not something material, but it is not something immaterial either. It is an emergent property of an interacting structure of matter, the brain.
Consciousness is similar to the rainbow, how it emerges. Rainbow formed on a specific matter in the case of special circumstances. We know the science of the rainbow, but we do not know the science of consciousness. However, the similarity in emergence helps to understand how we can handle the consciousness if we want to deal with it.
How can we deal with the rainbow? We cannot grab it. It is immaterial in a kind of way but still created by the matter. It is a well describable phenomenon, a special effect of a special state of the creator matter. We cannot grab the rainbow and take it somewhere, but we can create it if we create the necessary conditions. We know the condition that is necessary to create the rainbow, but we do not know how to create consciousness. However, it is just the limitation of our knowledge, a technical, and not a theoretical problem.
Every rainbow is the same but looks like every consciousness is unique. No, it is not. The similarity does not stop at uniqueness. The rainbows and the consciousnesses are the same and unique in the same way. Both are the same in the level of the effect. Every rainbow is the same on the level of the effect, as every consciousness is the same too. However, the creator matter is unique in both cases. No two identical instances of the water drop arrangements and photon radiation, yet, if the right conditions exist, every different arrangement creates the same rainbow. In the same way, no two identical instances of the structure of the neurons and their given states, but still create the same phenomenon of consciousness. Both phenomena have a unique background, still, produce the same effect.
Is consciousness transferable then? No. It is not a material thing. Can we create consciousness? Yes, it is an emergent property of a special matter. The real question is: can we reproduce a specific consciousness? Because consciousness is an emergent property, its uniqueness does not come from the consciousness itself but its creator, the uniquely arranged matter. Every rainbow looks the same on the level of the phenomenon, but to reproduce the uniquely same rainbow, we should reproduce the same physical arrangement and states of the matter, which creates it. We do not need to recreate the uniquely same rainbow because every rainbow is the same from outside. Consciousness looks the same from outside too. However, we do not just want to create consciousness, we want to recreate a specific one. If we want to recreate a uniquely same consciousness, we must recreate the same physical arrangement and states of the matter, from what that specific consciousness emerged.
Could we recreate ourselves then? Can we recreate our unique consciousness? Theoretically, yes. We do not even need to deal with the consciousness itself. It will emerge. We just need to recreate the same physical conditions, the same neuronal structures, and the same neuronal states. If even it is theoretically possible (still need to consider how deeply should know the physical states), technically to recreate the identical physical arrangement is a challenging task. It is challenging even if we do not want to recreate the same physical structure, enough to simulate it, for example, on a computer.
Let us assume, we are able to recreate or simulate the same, or close enough unique physical structure and states of our brain. Then a consciousness would emerge from it. Would it be the same, as we are, originally? Would it be our continuity, our privet continuance?
Yes, it would. We are not unique in our consciousness. We are unique in the matter, in the brain, which creates consciousness. If it is reproduced, it reproduces the same consciousness, with the same memories, feelings, and everything that makes us unique.
What would be the relation between the new consciousness and the old, original one, if it still exists? The two consciousnesses are separated. They are separate uniqueness from the time they separated. Which one is me? Both are at the time of separation because both have the same past. However, after the separation, both are different, with different present and future. Which one is me, which one is the original, in which one I continue? The question has no meaning. Both are different after the separation. We remember the same past, but we are living in a different present. We are both unique, and different from the separation. Both are I. Both I have consciousness, but they are not connected to each other. We are separated, and both we are unique, separately. We have our own consciousness of what is not connected anymore. I feel this myself and not the other. Which one is me? Both, but I do not know about the other anymore. We are different entities. My consciousness does not extend to the other me. Still, we can be friends.
However, we should not forget the original goal, the reach of eternal life. After the duplication, I have a new body. I do not need to worry about the old me in the old, wearing body. We may not even resemble each other physically. The new one maybe lives in a computer. Yes, the old me may suffer and die, but the new me which is me too survive until the need to transfer again, if the time has come and can not be repaired. It is the price of consciousness transfer. Immortality with the side effect of death.
If the old one, the "real one" dies, if it is unavoidable, what can be gain with this consciousness transfer? This process can be used for a new type of evolution, to upgrade the civilization. Everyone dies, but the most appropriate could continue with this process. Who is the most appropriate? If we, the human race could reach this point, not the classical evolution for selection would function. The society should select the most appropriate to benefit from the most.
It is a feasible future. It can turn out to be good or bad. However, it is a possibility, maybe a necessary step to take off our mortal biological body but preserve humanity. Our current biological body is doomed to die, even if we could fix it from time to time and extend its functions and working ability for a longer period. The human body is mortal, but humanity in whole probably can only survive if we learn to transfer our consciousness to a new body. Otherwise, the AI will survive us when it gains consciousness. But it won't be called humanity. Humanity comes from humans and rooted in the long-long evolution of life. Suffer, and pain, joy, and happiness, emotions, love are the product of our biological evolution. We should preserve it.
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