There is a rationale from both social and personal perspectives that leads to the need for strong adaptability that can be solved by "uploading" to substrate-independent minds. I will briefly state that rationale and then look at the concrete problem of how mental functions can become substrate independent, especially through the process of whole brain emulation (WBE). The central problem of the paper is how to address the many complex requirement on the roadmap to WBE, given that it is a long-term project and the trends in science and technology are strongly guided by actions with rapid pay-off. The possible futures may be quite different, depending on whether society follows trends that are heavier on machine-centric improvements or those where human and machine develop together. How can one ensure that the requirements of a complex long-term goal are met by the scientific and technological pursuits of a loosely coupled multi-disciplinary network? I will then propose a method that is based on monitoring and nurturing from a big-picture perspective, selecting successive key focal points for attention. I give the recent example of missing tools for high-resolution large-scale activity recording in brain tissue, then highlight how targeted actions were involved in the emergence of solutions that are now lab prototypes. Building on that example, I demonstrate 1.) the importance of goal-driven activity that is applied iteratively and 2.) the importance of follow-up activity to take the consequent developments to the level of "application platforms", so that trends may begin to point to whole brain emulation goals. In conclusion, I will show that this process can lead to piece-wise and sustainable development of whole brain emulation where each step delivers applications and rewards (e.g. brain-machine interfaces, neural prostheses, neural enhancements).

1. Supporting the complex requirements of aSupporting the complex requirements of a
long-term project for whole brain emulationlong-term project for whole brain emulation
Dr. Randal A. KoeneDr. Randal A. Koene
Carboncopies.orgCarboncopies.org
MTA2014

2. OVERVIEW
Brief Basics + Rationale for
WBE
Success of Long-Term
Project with Complex
Requirements
Proposed Method &
Example from Experience
A Piece-Wise, Sustainable
Path to WBE

3. BASICS: TERMINOLOGY
http://koene.carboncopies.org
Objective: SIM
Substrate-Independent Mind
Feasible method: WBE
Whole Brain Emulation
Bio to WBE transfer:
“mind uploading”

4. BASICS: PURPOSE
In Search of Everything
Personal limitations
To Understand Everything
To Create Anything
Enhance & Expand
Capabilities: Need ACCESS
Brain Interfaces & ultimately
SIM give maximum access &
maximum flexibility

5. BASICS: ADAPTABILITY FOR
OUR SPECIES
Suitable for this
environment, this little
niche in time and space
Bigger picture perspective:
Many challenges we are not
at all suited for
Changes are coming, we
may even be causing them!
Species Survival & Species
Thriving require excellence
in adaptability
Responsibility to prepare our
species while we can

6. BASICS: REVERSE
ENGINEERING A MIND
Small Brain Prostheses
show it IS POSSIBLE:
Cochlea, Retina &
HIPPOCAMPUS
Hippocampus: Episodic
Memory
Biomimetic chip replaces
function
Works in rats (many
experiments), works in
monkeys
3 years to human trials!
Berger et al, USC

7. BASICS: SYSTEM
IDENTIFICATION
Unknown Sysem (bio / chip)
= black box with I/O
Know your goal, discover
relevant signals
(chip example: 1s & 0s)
Berger hippocampus:
assume “spike” times are
relevant: evidence in
sensory, motor & synaptic
change
Learn transfer function for
input spike patterns to
output spike patterns
NOT the same as a 'simulation'
that abstracts function

8. BASICS: WBE IS MANY
CONNECTED PROSTHESES
Whole Brain roadmap: Break
black box with 100B neurons
into many connected
sub-systems as feasible or
smaller than Berger's
Connections tell us how
sub-systems can interact
Characterize function within
each sub-system
Emulate dynamic function
representations
Test & Iteratively improve
Structure: Connectome
Proof-of-concept 2012
Function: each neuron?
Current Aim!
Emulation: model
platform
Application &
Validation

9. MISSION: LONG TERM &
MANY REQUIREMENTS
Tech. requirements to iterate
towards on 4 pillars
Actual R&D activitiy based
on short-term interests
Trends may not lead to goals
without a special effort
What may happen if other
trends dominate, e.g. AI?

10. MISSION:
CARBONCOPIES.ORG
Maintain a roadmap:
Know goals in terms of
requirements
+ actual activity / trends
Top-Down needs
Bottom-Up feasibility
Encourage meeting
requirements and filling
gaps by emphasizing /
starting specific activities
Big-picture vigilance: apply
where most needed

12. METHOD: EXAMPLE, 2013
FOCUS
High-resolution functional data
acquisition 'every neuron'
Boyden (MIT) to Silicon Valley
2012: Molecular Ticker Tape &
Brain Activity Map (BAM)
Carmena (UC Berkley) interest
in WBE, connect with Boyden:
joined BAM, ultrasound +
wireless probe at micron scales
PoBAM group: 'every neuron at
1ms' – BRAIN Initiative

13. METHOD: EXAMPLE,
PROTOTYPES EMERGING
'Neural Dust', 126um –
20um, 5um tail, ultrasound
power & communication
Animal trials in June 2014!
MIT/Harvard: similar, with
infrared 'RFID-like' system
Kording: bio-vector 'pulled'
nanowire array
Cross-disciplinary 'hybrid'
solutions toward a BrainNet

14. METHOD: EXAMPLE, BMI
STRATEGY
Long-term operational
interfaces to very large
number of neurons without
harm to the brain
Hi-Res BMI: In-Brain-Loop
Use data otherwise
inaccessible (sort memory)
Deliver data otherwise
impossible to generate
(parameter fitting, super
object recognition, etc.)
Needs to understand brain
circuit protocol (see Berger)

15. SUSTAINABLE: PIECE-WISE
TO WBE
Interfaces – Prostheses –
WBE more feasible than
'clean-room' path
Pieces, e.g. retina,
hippocampus & small whole
brains (drosophila 2018?)
Sustainably to WBE – if a
body attends to big-picture,
iteratively deciding nudges

16. SUSTAINABLE: INCENTIVES
FOR 'ARCHITECTING'
Architecting: e.g. PoBAM &
Carboncopies.org
Personal experience of
fragile support for
cross-disciplinary big-picture
(shared problem...)
Grant funding encourages
specialized silos
Investment encourages
short-term focus
Long-term success
probability linked to
robustness
Effort along multiple possible solutions
+
Sharing for hybrid solutions

17. SUSTAINABLE: ROBUST
MISSION DESIGN
No single points of failure:
● Technology
● Labs & People
● Resources for the work
Technology & Labs &
People well structured
Frailty of resources
continues to hamper
predictable architecting
(like carboncopies.org)
Robustness: A 2014 goal.

18. SUMMARIZING
SIM: Improve ourselves while we
improve our machines
Trends & exponential curves
don't automatically lead to goals
WBE monitored and nurtured:
WBE is now lab-accepted
Connectome proof-of-concept
PoBAM – functional access
5 years to fruitfly WBE project?
Robustness: Structural
improvements needed!
WBE Coffee Table Book