I understand all this. And it's precisely the sort of personality preservation that I find largely useless and would like to avoid. I'm not talking about copying memories from one brain to another; I'm talking about preserving the sense of self in such a way that the person undergoing this procedure would have the following subjective experience: be anesthetized (probably), undergo surgery (because I picture it as some form of surgery), "wake up in new body". (The old body would likely get buried, because the whole purpose of performing such a transfer would be to save dying -- very old or terminally ill -- people's lives.) There would be only one extant copy of that person's memories, and yet they wouldn't "die"; there would be the same sort of continuity of self experienced by people before and after going to sleep. The one who would "die" is technically the person in the body which constitutes the recipient of the transfer (who may have been grown just for this purpose and kept unconscious its whole life). That's what I mean. Think of it as more or less what happens to the main character in the movie Avatar.
I realize the whole thing doesn't sound very scientific, but have I managed to get my point across?
As to uploading, it is more than the brain that needs to be emulated. We have hormonal systems that mediate fear and joy and probably a broad range of other feelings. I have a sense of my body that I am in some sense constantly aware of which would have to be simulated and would probably be different in an em of me than it is in me, just as it would be different if my memories were put in another body.
Yes, but... Everybody's physiological basis for feelings is more or less the same; granted, there are structural differences that cause variation in innate personality traits and other mental functions, and a different brain might employ the body's neurotransmitter reserve in different ways (I think), but the whole system is sufficiently similar from human to human that we can relate to each other's experiences. There would be differences, and the differences would cause the person to behave differently in the "new body" than it did in the "old body", but I don't think one would have to move the glands or limbic system or what-have-you in addition to just the brain.
I understand what you are going for. And I present the following problem with it.
Dahlen A is put to unconscious. While A is unconscious memories are completely copied to unconscious body B. Dahlen B is woken up. Your scenario is fulfilled, Dahlen B has entirely the memories of being put to sleep in body A and waking up in body B. Dahlen B examines his memories and sees no gap in his existence other than the "normal" one of the anesthesis to render Dahlen A unconscious. Your desires for a transfer scenario are fulfilled!
Scenario 1: Dahlen A ...
This thread is for asking any questions that might seem obvious, tangential, silly or what-have-you. Don't be shy, everyone has holes in their knowledge, though the fewer and the smaller we can make them, the better.
Please be respectful of other people's admitting ignorance and don't mock them for it, as they're doing a noble thing.
To any future monthly posters of SQ threads, please remember to add the "stupid_questions" tag.