Hong Kong Liberal Religious Forum

Brain downloads 'possible by 2050'
CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/05/23/ ... index.html

Not a new (2005) report but Cyberimmortality is very fascinating!

A whole lot of moral issues will emerge! Are downloaded brains fully human, entitled to full human rights and legal status? Is a downloaded president of a country still the president? Will a totalitarian ruler "live" forever?!

Religious questions bound to follow. If we are ultimately only a bundle of information that can be downloaded to a computer, what is our worth? What is "human"? Is "human" mere brain (or computer) output? Does the computer with a downloaded human mind have a soul? If the soul is non-downloadable but a full human mind can be downloaded without a soul, is the "soul" actually non-existent? Is the true saviour of humanity (from death to "eternal life") the computer but not Jesus (a Christian question)?

Also very exciting predictions: Conscious computer and Virtual world (an immersive computer-generated environment) by 2020.



下載腦袋=永生？

不是新的報導（2005年），但這種可能的「計算機永生」確是非常迷人！

大量的道德問題將會出現！下載了的大腦是否一個完整的人，享有充分的人權和法律地位？一個下載了的國家元首仍然有治國的權力嗎？一個極權統治者有可能永遠「活」下去？！

一大堆宗教問題接踵而來。如果我們最終只是一堆可以下載到計算機的資料，我們的價值何在？何謂「人」？「人」只是大腦（或計算機）的輸出？一部下載了一個人的心靈的計算機有沒有靈魂？如果靈魂不能下載，但人的整個心靈卻可以下載到計算機中，是否意味根本沒有「靈魂」？一個基督教的問題：真正把人從死裡拯救到「永生」的救主，是計算機還是耶穌？

也是非常令人興奮的預測：有意識的計算機和虛擬世界（一種身歷其境的計算機生成環境）2020年來臨。