Our Futures in Mind Uploading: Public Perceptions and Narratives

Advances in neurotechnology have immense potential but also pose significant ethical challenges. While the public is a key stakeholder, this audience is understudied. My research uses mind uploading as an exemplar for hypothetical future neurotechnology and contributes new data to an under researched field. To encourage participants to connect with mind uploading, I designed a novel data collection tool and method - a website that tells the stories of two fictional mind uploaded characters. My results showed that while awareness of mind uploading has remained relatively static over the last few years, favourability towards the concept has significantly increased, reflected in an increasing number of people who would upload if their physical body was dying and search for meaning in this new afterlife. However, while the public could identify several benefits for mind uploading, primarily a continued connection to loved ones, they were clearly concerned how neurotechnology, particularly that which would augment our existing capabilities, might develop. Public concerns reflected those of policymakers and scientists and confirmed the need for regulation to ensure neurotechnology is not discriminatory and does not create an even greater divide between the privileged and disadvantaged.