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Imagine a future where nobody dies -- instead, our minds are uploaded to a digital world.
想象一个无人死亡的未来--相反，我们的心灵被上传到数字世界。
They might live on in a realistic, simulated environment with avatar bodies, and could still call in and contribute to the biological world.
它们可能依靠数字化身生存在一个逼真的模拟环境中，并且它们仍旧可以被召唤，为现实世界做贡献。
Mind uploading has powerful appeal -- but what would it actually take to scan a person's brain and upload their mind?
心灵上传具有强大的吸引力--但是这究竟需要怎样的准备，才能扫描人类大脑并上传心灵呢？
The main challenges are scanning a brain in enough detail to capture the mind and perfectly recreating that detail artificially.
主要的挑战是对大脑进行足够详细的扫描来捕捉心灵，并且完美地人工重现那些细节。
But first, we have to know what to scan.
但首先，我们需要知道扫描什么。
The human brain contains about 86 billion neurons, connected by at least a hundred trillion synapses.
人脑包含约860亿个神经元，它们之间至少由100万亿个突触相连。
The pattern of connectivity among the brain's neurons,
大脑神经元间的连通性模式，
that is, all of the neurons and all their connections to each other, is called the connectome.
即所有神经元和它们之间的所有连接，称为连接组。
We haven't yet mapped the connectome, and there's also a lot more to neural signaling.
我们尚未能绘制连接组图谱，神经信号传递还涉及很多其它东西。
There are hundreds, possibly thousands of different kinds of connections, or synapses.
总共有成百，可能至上千种不同类型的连接，或突触。
Each functions in a slightly different way.
每种连接的工作方式都略有不同。
Some work faster, some slower. Some grow or shrink rapidly in the process of learning; some are more stable over time.
有些速度快些，有的则较慢。有些在学习过程中会快速增长或收缩，有的则一直比较稳定。
And beyond the trillions of precise, 1-to-1 connections between neurons,
除了神经元间上万亿的一对一连接外，
some neurons also spray out neurotransmitters that affect many other neurons at once.
一些神经元也会喷射出能同时影响许多其他神经元的神经递质。
All of these different kinds of interactions would need to be mapped in order to copy a person's mind.
所有的这些不同的相互作用将需要被映射记录，以用来复制一个人的心灵。
There are also a lot of influences on neural signaling that are poorly understood or undiscovered.
对神经信号的影响有很多，人们对此了解颇少，或未曾发现。
To name just one example, patterns of activity between neurons are likely influenced by a type of cell called glia.
就举一个例子，神经元间的活动模式有可能就受到一种叫神经胶质的细胞影响。
Glia surround neurons and, according to some scientists, may even outnumber them by as many as ten to one.
神经胶质包围着神经元，根据一些科学家，神经胶质和神经元的数量比甚至可达10比1。
Glia were once thought to be purely for structural support, and their functions are still poorly understood,
神经胶质一度被认为是单纯以提供结构支撑的存在，我们对它们的作用依旧了解甚少，
but at least some of them can generate their own signals that influence information processing.
但至少部分神经胶质可以产生它们自己的信号来影响信息处理。
Our understanding of the brain isn't good enough to determine what we'd need to scan in order to replicate the mind,
我们对大脑的理解还远不足以决定为了达到复制心灵的目的我们需要扫描哪些东西，
but assuming our knowledge does advance to that point, how would we scan it?
但假使我们的知识已经可以解答这个问题，那我们该如何扫描它呢？
Currently, we can accurately scan a living human brain with resolutions of about half a millimeter using our best non-invasive scanning method, MRI.
当前，我们能够精确地扫描活体大脑，使用我们最好的非入侵性核磁共振成像（MRI），其分辨率约为半毫米。
To detect a synapse, we'll need to scan at a resolution of about a micron -- a thousandth of a millimeter.
为探测突触，我们将需要以微米的分辨率进行扫描--千分之一毫米。
To distinguish the kind of synapse and precisely how strong each synapse is, we'll need even better resolution.
为区分突触种类和每个突触的精确强度，我们将需要更高的分辨率。
MRI depends on powerful magnetic fields.
MRI依靠于强大的磁场。
Scanning at the resolution required to determine the details of individual synapses
为确定每个突触的细节，扫描需要在一定的分辨率下进行，
would requires a field strength high enough to cook a person's tissues.
这将要求场强要高到能烹饪人体组织。
So this kind of leap in resolution would require fundamentally new scanning technology.
因此这般分辨率的飞跃，将从根本上需要一个全新扫描技术。
It would be more feasible to scan a dead brain using an electron microscope,
而采用电子显微镜扫描死亡的大脑将会比较可行，
but even that technology is nowhere near good enough -- and requires killing the subject first.
但是这项技术甚至还远不够成熟--它也首先要求杀死大脑。
Assuming we eventually understand the brain well enough to know what to scan and develop the technology to safely scan at that resolution,
假设我们最终对大脑的了解足够多到我们知道扫描什么，也成功开发了能够在要求分辨率下安全扫描的技术，
the next challenge would be to recreate that information digitally.
下一个挑战将会是数字重现那些信息。
The main obstacles to doing so are computing power and storage space, both of which are improving every year.
主要障碍是计算机能力和存储空间，这两个方面的技术每年都在进步。
We're actually much closer to attaining this technological capacity than we are to understanding or scanning our own minds.
实际上，相较我们对自己大脑的理解或扫描我们更接近拥有这样的技术能力。
Artificial neural networks already run our internet search engines, digital assistants, self-driving cars, Wall Street trading algorithms, and smart phones.
人工神经网络已经在运行着我们互联网搜索引擎、数字助理、自动驾驶汽车、华尔街交易算法，以及智能手机。
Nobody has yet built an artificial network with 86 billion neurons,
目前尚未有人使用860亿神经元建造人工网络，
but as computing technology improves, it may be possible to keep track of such massive data sets.
但是随着计算机技术的进步，跟踪如此海量的数据集或许是有可能的。
At every step in the scanning and uploading process, we'd have to be certain we were capturing all the necessary information accurately
扫描和上传过程的每一步，我们将必须确认所有必要的信息都被准确捕捉，
or there's no telling what ruined version of a mind might emerge.
或不会说“被破坏了的心灵可能会出现”。
While mind uploading is theoretically possible,
尽管心灵上传理论上是可能的，
we're likely hundreds of years away from the technology and scientific understanding that would make it a reality.
但我们距离能让这真实发生的技术和科学理解，可能还相差几百年的时间。
And that reality would come with ethical and philosophical considerations: who would have access to mind uploading?
倘若它真实发生，随之而来的是伦理和哲学的思考：谁将获得心灵上传的权限？
What rights would be accorded to uploaded minds? How could this technology be abused?
上传心灵的人将获得怎样的权利？这项技术可能会如何被滥用？
Even if we can eventually upload our minds, whether we should remains an open question.
尽管我们可以最终上传心灵，但是否应该这么做，仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。
