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Types of mind uploading: copies, emulation and continued experience
Uploading can mean several things. What continues—and for whom—is the central question.
Published 2026-10-30 · Updated 2026-10-30 · By Take Me to the Future
A digital likeness
An avatar or chatbot made from messages and recordings can resemble someone. It may serve as an archive or memorial. Resemblance alone is not evidence of a transferred mind, even if the interaction is emotionally convincing. The categories here organize proposals; they do not establish that any method preserves personal experience.
Whole-brain emulation
This proposal aims to reproduce relevant brain function in another system. Sandberg and Bostrom’s 2008 roadmap discusses technical requirements and research questions. It is a roadmap, not a demonstration of an uploaded human. Which details must be captured and reproduced remains central. [Source 1]
Copying, replacement and embodiment
Proposals differ on whether scanning would preserve or destroy the original brain, whether replacement would be gradual, and whether the resulting system would use a virtual environment, a robot or another body. These are distinct design questions. Describing a method as gradual or nondestructive does not establish personal continuity.
What a patient needs to choose
Would a copy be acceptable if the original remains? What if the original cannot survive the procedure? What evidence and retained capacities would matter? The institution should preserve each patient’s preferences, rather than silently treating a digital likeness as fulfillment of its commitment. No uploading service is included in early participation.
Sources and scope
This is an institutional explainer, not a clinical guideline or a claim that the institution has demonstrated these methods. Source dates matter; our discussion of the mission is editorial interpretation.