View source for Mind uploading in fiction

{{short description|References of mind uploading in fiction}}
[[File:Mind upload4.svg|alt=Refer to caption|thumb|Schematic representation of a [[mind]] 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.<ref name="SFEUpload">{{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}}</ref> It is distinct from the concept of transferring a consciousness from one human body to another<!-- Which would be https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/identity_transfer -->.<ref name="WebbMindUploading">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Fischer" /> It is sometimes applied to a single person and other times to an entire society.<ref name="GreenwoodComputers">{{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}}</ref> Recurring themes in these stories include whether the computerized mind is truly [[Consciousness|conscious]], and if so, whether [[Personal identity|identity]] is preserved.<ref name="BlackfordReshapingTheHuman">{{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}}</ref> It is a common feature of the [[cyberpunk]] subgenre,<ref name="HistoricalDictionaryOfScienceFictionInLiteraturArtificialIntelligence">{{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}}</ref> sometimes taking the form of [[digital immortality]].<ref name="Fischer">{{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}}}}</ref><ref name="GreenwoodEncyclopediaImmortality">{{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}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Body swap]]
* {{Section link|Brain transplant|In science fiction}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* {{Cite book |last=Geraci |first=Robert M. |title=Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-974133-5 |pages=54–56 |language=en |chapter=Science Fiction Sacred |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2fHNa8DZGoC&pg=PA54}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lorrimar |first=Victoria |title=Human Technological Enhancement and Theological Anthropology |date=2022 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-51502-0 |pages=37–38 |language=en |chapter=Imagining Prospective Technologies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxNkEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37}}

{{Science fiction}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mind Transfer In Fiction}}
[[Category:Science fiction themes]]
[[Category:Fiction about consciousness transfer| ]]


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