4

I was wondering - Let's say we take your consciousness and put it in a complete cybernetic body? What would the term for that would be?

I thought it would be Cyborg at first, But I know that's short for "Cybernetic Organism". So what if your consciousness is in a completely cybernetic body? Would you still be called a Cyborg?

Is there an accepted science-fiction term for this? If not, what work first used the concept and how did it refer to this idea?

Improve this question
5
  • 3
    Whether to consider such a being human or not would be up to the author - I cannot see how this could be answered without opinions.
    – curiousdannii
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 13:06
  • @curiousdannii I don't think the post is about being human or not - it's just about what you'd call the person after the transfer.
    – Katdragon
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 13:33
  • Isn't this more or less what General Grievous is, give or take a still organically beating heart?
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 17:37
  • @JanusBahsJacquet In that case, the question would have to be rewritten to specifically be about him.
    – Rogue Jedi
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 20:29
  • I think it's called a Robocop
    – user13267
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 4:50

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
8

Wikipedia uses the term "Uploads" in their article on Mind Uploading.

"Computer-based intelligence such as an upload could think much faster than a biological human even if it were no more intelligent."

I suppose you could also use the term "Avatar" like they do in the movie "Avatar" - as it represents a consciousness transferred into a non-human body (even though it's not a robot).

There is a project called "Avatar" which aims to download human consciousness onto a digital chip.

Improve this answer
2
  • +1, that seems completely reasonable. I think it would also be reasonable to simply call it an 'android', but note that it "has an uploaded consciousness".
    – DCShannon
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 13:03
  • "Mind upload" is a good term. But aside from that one project, I don't think "Avatar" would be a good general term for this. Thinking of the movie, until the very end it was just a physical human brain controlling another body from a distance (telepresence)--and that's also similar to how in computer games, your "avatar" is the character you control in the game world while you're really sitting at your computer in the real world.
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 17:25
0

Would it be Bottled Consciousness?

When Steve Jobs passed away last year, a joke bounced around--not that there was anything particularly funny about it--that the man who had done so much to shape modern technology hadn't really died at all, but rather had figured out how to upload himself into the Mac OS so he could live on with us, and with his products, forever. The notion was ostensibly so far out as to be ridiculous. But not everyone sees it that way.

Some more interseting trvia,

First, while the later phases of his project are so far out as to seem ridiculous, phase one is totally feasible (in fact it's already being done). From there, the leap to phase two--human brainpower transplanted into a mechanical robot--is a quite a leap.

Here is Dmitry Itskov.

He also mentions "Avatar" as a consciousness transfer

And then we have Dmitry Itskov on the Philosophy of Immortality

Improve this answer
2
  • Yep, "Avatar" was the project I was referring to in my post. I think that Mody was asking about what you'd call the final "product" as it were. So you'd call the entity an Avatar/Upload/Whatever and not a "Bottled Conciousness"
    – Katdragon
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 13:30
  • @Katdragon, sorry didn't realize that that was the same link you were referring to.
    – KyloRen
    Commented Jun 5, 2016 at 13:54

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.