Mind uploading in fiction

{{short description|References of mind uploading in fiction}}

File:Mind upload4.svg being uploaded from a human brain to a computer]]

Mind uploading—transferring an individual's personality to a computer—appears in several works of fiction.{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2022 |title=Upload |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/upload |access-date=2024-03-29 |edition=4th |author1-last=Langford |author1-first=David |author1-link=David Langford |author2-last=Stableford |author2-first=Brian |author2-link=Brian Stableford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}} It is distinct from the concept of transferring a consciousness from one human body to another.{{Cite book |last=Webb |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Webb (scientist) |title=All the Wonder that Would Be: Exploring Past Notions of the Future |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51759-9 |series=Science and Fiction |pages=276–278 |language=en |chapter=Mind Uploading |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51759-9_10 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVPJDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA276}} It is sometimes applied to a single person and other times to an entire society.{{Cite book |last=Langford |first=David |author-link=David Langford |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32951-7 |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |pages=154 |language=en |chapter=Computers |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greenwoodencyclo0000unse_k2b9/page/154/mode/2up}} Recurring themes in these stories include whether the computerized mind is truly conscious, and if so, whether identity is preserved.{{Cite book |last=Blackford |first=Russell |author-link=Russell Blackford |title=Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-61685-8 |series=Science and Fiction |pages=173–174 |language=en |chapter=Reshaping the Human |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jlU0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA173}} It is a common feature of the cyberpunk subgenre,{{Cite book |last=Booker |first=M. Keith |title=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction in Literature |date=2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-7884-6 |pages=28 |language=en |chapter=Artificial Intelligence (AI) |quote=Cyberpunk writers and their successors have also frequently imagined the uploading of human minds into computers, thus creating a special sort of artificial intelligence that can free individuals of the limitations of biological bodies, a notion that would be notably extended in the work of Greg Egan. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRi7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA28}} sometimes taking the form of digital immortality.{{multiref2|{{Cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=John Martin |title=Immortal Engines: Life Extension and Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy |last2=Curl |first2=Ruth |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-8203-1733-0 |editor-last=Slusser |editor-first=George |editor-link=George Edgar Slusser |location=Athens, Georgia |pages=3–12 |chapter=Philosophical Models of Immortality in Science Fiction |author-link=John Martin Fischer |oclc=34319944 |editor-last2=Westfahl |editor-first2=Gary |editor-link2=Gary Westfahl |editor-last3=Rabkin |editor-first3=Eric S.}}|{{Cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=John Martin |title=Our Stories: Essays on Life, Death, and Free Will |last2=Curl |first2=Ruth |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-537495-7 |editor-last=Fischer |editor-first=John Martin |editor-link=John Martin Fischer |pages=93–101 |language=en |chapter=Appendix to Chapter 6: Philosophical Models of Immortality in Science Fiction |author-link=John Martin Fischer |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeAiDCSqEBMC&pg=PA93}}}}{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32951-7 |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |pages=418–420 |language=en |chapter=Immortality and Longevity |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greenwoodencyclo0000unse_k2b9/page/418/mode/2up}}