Skip to main content

TED-Ed

How close are we to uploading our minds? - Michael S. A. Graziano

570,731 Views

8,826 Questions Answered

TEDEd Animation

Let’s Begin…

Imagine a future where nobody dies— instead, our minds are uploaded to a digital world. There they could live on in a realistic, simulated environment with avatar bodies, calling in and contributing to the biological world. Mind-uploading has powerful appeal— but what would it actually take to scan a person’s brain and upload their mind? Michael S. A. Graziano explores the challenges.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

A link to a lesson on the brain basis of consciousness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MASBIB7zPo4&t=1s

An article on the possibility of a simulated consciousness and a digital afterlife: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/what-a-digital-afterlife-would-be-like/491105/

An article on the mechanistic nature of consciousness:
https://aeon.co/essays/how-consciousness-works-and-why-we-believe-in-ghosts

Here is a book that covers the evolution of consciousness, from the earliest brains complicated enough to contain consciousness all the way to a possible future of artificial consciousness and uploaded minds:
https://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294998807

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

Educator
Michael S. A. Graziano
Director
Fausto Montanari
Narrator
Addison Anderson
Producer
Lobster Studio
Art Director
Fausto Montanari
Illustrator
Fausto Montanari
Animator
Nikolay Ivanov, Teodor Hristov, Petko Modev
Sound Designer
Fabrizio Martini
Director of Production
Gerta Xhelo
Editorial Producer
Alex Rosenthal
Associate Editorial Producer
Elizabeth Cox
Fact-Checker
Brian Gutierrez

More from The Big Questions