RESEARCH RELATED ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES ESSAY: UPLOADING YOUR BRAIN TO THE INTERNET

Imagine that you are swimming in the warm waters of the Pacific; there is not a ripple on the surface and the water is so clear you can see right to the bottom. Swimming with you is a school of dolphins. You dive and surface together, you observe each other and you feel you are part of their family group. Now what if this didn’t really happen to you but is someone else’s experience and you downloaded it off the internet? There is research continuing at the moment into the possibility of achieving this. First of all, do the reading task posted on this blog covering the topic: Can you live forever? No but you can have fun trying; link:  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=e-zimmer-can-you-live-forever; questions on the blog. When you are done, do your research and write an essay discussing the advantages and disadvantages. If you wish to approach the topic in any other way that is fine; however, make sure complete the research before writing for maximum benefit

Reading

1.       By 2040, You’ll Be Able to Upload Your Brainhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/by-2040-you-will-be-able-to-upload-your-brain-1792555.html

2.       Upload Your Brain, Your Thoughts and Emotions to the Internet http://countdowntozerotime.org/2013/03/21/upload-your-brain-your-thoughts-and-emotions-to-the-internet-billionaires-russian-mogul-wants-to-upload-your-brains-into-immortality/

3.       You’ll Probably Never Upload Your Mind to a computer http://io9.com/you-ll-probably-never-upload-your-mind-into-a-computer-474941498

4.       Upload Your Brain http://sciencefocus.com/issue/upload-your-brain (You will need to subscribe to access this text but as far as I can see it is free; I read the mag)

5.       Losing Your Mind? Upload Your Brain and Gain Eternal Life http://www.therealityfiles.com/2012/12/losing-your-mind-upload-your-brain-and-gain-eternal-life/

Listening

1.       How to Put Your Brain on the Internet by Doctor Michael Chorost; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DsqfTajYl0 ( This is a 55 minute lesson by an expert)

2.       The Internet Wired Directly into Your Brain; http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqdy95_your-brain-on-the-internet_tech#.UYINJqLjeSo

3.       Discussion World Wide Mind: Connecting Your Brain to the Internet http://vimeo.com/27531936

Note to the student or teacher: you should plan to spread this activity over two or three days; listen to one video and take notes then read and annotate one of the texts. Continue in this way until the research is done. Coming back to the same topic day in and day out will greatly enhance learning and the rewards will be considerable. This activity could also be assigned as a project at an advanced level.
Refer to my second blog, The Essay Archive, for sample essays: https://theessayarchive.blogspot.com.tr/