Becoming software?

As humanity conquers illnesses, halts aging, and extends lifespans, the idea of dying from mundane accidents or violent attacks becomes an unfathomable risk.

Enormous investments will pour into recreating individual consciousness, allowing minds to continue in new bodies or digital realms after accidental death.

As an atheist, I naturally infer that our consciousness arises from our physical bodies, which interact with the world to gather and organize information for our brains. Therefore, I doubt our minds could be extracted from our bodies and rebooted in a new vessel while retaining the same consciousness.

However, if the feasibility of achieving Artificial General Intelligence is proportionally related to the likelihood that we might be living in a simulation, then the possibility of maintaining our conscious identity by selecting a different “video game player” seems plausible!

Imagining that we could die, lose consciousness, and be brought back as if awakening from sleep or anesthesia treads the line between religion and science fiction. As Arthur C. Clarke eloquently stated: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”