Editing 1666: Brain Upload

{{comic
| number    = 1666
| date      = April 11, 2016
| title     = Brain Upload
| image     = brain upload.png
| titletext = I just spent 20 minutes deciding whether to start an email with 'Hi' or 'Hey', so I think it transferred correctly.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Megan]] is {{w|Mind uploading|uploading}} [[Cueball|Cueball's]] {{w|consciousness}} into a computer device attached to his head via a cap on his skull. After the upload, the computer seems to have stopped responding to inputs, causing Megan to conclude that the process has failed, however Cueball insists the transfer could have worked, or at least gave the correct response. This is because that is the kind of behavior he is used to experiencing from his own brain.

Sometimes computers can seem to be "frozen" - i.e. non-responsive to any user input; but if left alone for long enough, they sometimes snap out of it. In fact, it is impossible for a computer to determine (for all cases) if a program will eventually finish its process (see {{w|halting problem}}).

The potential benefits of the fictional technology used in this comic are obvious, and this type of "transfer" has been subject of various science fiction works. It could allow for a form of immortality or serve as a "backup" for someone's mind. A "transfer" (rather than a "copy") would suggest that Cueball's consciousness is removed from his body and relocated, but Megan may simply be using the incorrect verb. The exact nature of "consciousness" is left somewhat ambiguous in this comic.

In the title text Cueball (or [[Randall]]) indicates that this kind of non-response from the brain (or a computer) is something he just experienced when trying to write a email and then failing to get started for 20 minutes while he (i.e. his brain) tried to decide the "very important" detail of whether to begin the email with 'Hi' or 'Hey' - a detail that is really trivial, as the difference between these two informal greetings has little consequence.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is standing in front of the control panel of a device with both hands on the keyboard. The device is linked to Cueball's heads through a wire that goes to a cap on top of Cueball's head, where it spreads out in more than ten wires connecting to different places all over the cap. Cueball sits, hands in his laps, on a kind of table on the other side of the device facing Megan.]
:Megan: Neural-digital link established. Ready to upload your consciousness to the computer?
:Cueball: Sure, go for it.

:[Same setting in a frame-less panel, but Megan presses a button on the keyboard with one hand and a flash of light goes through the wire and around Cueballs head. Cueball seems to jerk as his hands are lifted from his lap and his legs move a little forward.]
:Computer: ''Bzzzzzzt''

:[Same setting again but Megan seems to be typing harder on the keys (shown with small lines above her hands on the keyboard) and Cueball sits normally again but one hand further back than in the first panel.]
:Megan: ...Hmm.
:Cueball: What?

:[Same as first panel but Megan looks a little more down on the keyboard.]
:Megan: It's not responding - the whole system is frozen. I think the transfer failed.
:Cueball: No, that sounds right.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Science]]