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jsteinhardt comments on Neil deGrasse Tyson on Cryonics - Less Wrong Discussion
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Local ion channel density (i.e. active zones), plus the modification status of all those ion channels, plus the signalling status of all the presynaptic and postsynaptic modifiers (including NO and endocannabinoids).
You see, knowing the strength of all synapses for a particular neuron won't tell you how that neuron will react to inputs. You also need temporal resolution: when a signal hits the synapse #3489, what will be the exact state of that synapse? The state determines how and when the signal will be passed on. And when the potential from that input goes down the dendritic tree and passes by the synapse #9871, which is receiving an input at that precise moment - well, how is it going to affect synapse #9871, and what is the state of synaps #9871 at that precise moment?
Depending on the answer to this question, stimulation of #3498 followed very soon after with stimulation of #9871 might produce an action potential - or it might not. And this is still oversimplifying things, but I hope you get the general idea.
Thanks for the response. Do you think it is important to explicitly consider the tertiary structure of proteins along the membrane, or can we keep track of coarser things such as for instance whether or not a given NMDA channel is magnesium-blocked or not?
EDIT: Also, you mentioned optogenetics at some point. Do you work with Ed Boyden by any chance?
We are deep into guessing territory here, but I would think that coarser option (magnesium, phosphorylation states, other modifications, and presence and binding status of other cofactors, especially GTPases) would be sufficient. Certainly for a simulated upload.
No, I don't work with Ed. I don't use optogenetics in my work, although I plan to in not too distant future.