whole brain emulation
In plain wordsCopying a particular person's brain into a computer in such detail, down to individual neurons and their connections, that the simulation would think and behave like that person.
The hypothetical copying of one particular brain into software: its structure is recorded in enough detail that a computer model, run on adequate hardware, behaves as the original would and, on functionalist views, has its mind. Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom's 2008 roadmap, which set the agenda, split the project into three technical problems: imaging every neuron and synapse plus relevant molecular detail (usually imagined as serial-section electron microscopy of preserved tissue), turning the images into accurate models of each component, and simulating the result fast enough; it argued that emulation needs scale and engineering rather than a theory of intelligence. Progress has come from connectomics: complete wiring diagrams of the nematode C. elegans (1986), an adult fruit fly brain (2024) and a cubic millimeter of mouse cortex (2025), though as of 2026 connectome-based simulations reproduce only limited aspects of an animal's behavior. In AI-risk analysis, emulations are an alternative route to superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist., arguably safer because they would inherit human values.
Whole brain emulation looked like the likeliest path to AGI in 2008; deep learning overtook it.
Origin
The idea of copying minds into machines is older (George M. Martin, 1971; Hans Moravec, 1979 and 1988). Earliest use of the phrase not established; it was popularized, and the research agenda set, by Anders Sandberg and Nick Bostrom's Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap (Future of Humanity Institute, 2008), which followed a 2007 workshop. Robin Hanson's The Age of Em (2016) imagined an economy run by emulations, which he called ems.
Related
- mind uploadingmind uploading, n.: The idea of moving a person's mind out of their biological brain and into a computer, so that they could go on living as software.
- digital minddigital mind, n.: A mind that exists as software running on computers — such as a sufficiently advanced AI or a digital copy of a human brain — especially when considering its moral and social standing.
- substrate independencesubstrate independence, n.: The idea that a mind depends only on the pattern of information processing, not on the material doing it, so a mind could in principle run on silicon as well as on neurons.
- superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist.
- multipolar scenariomultipolar scenario, n.: A possible future in which many powerful AIs, companies or countries coexist and compete, with none able to dominate the rest.
- neuromorphic computingneuromorphic computing, n.: Computer chips designed to work more like brains, with artificial neurons that send brief spikes only when needed, aiming to do AI tasks with far less energy.
Sources
- Sandberg, A. & Bostrom, N. (2008). Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap. Technical Report 2008-3, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford.
- Hanson, R. (2016). The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth. Oxford University Press.
Mentioned in
superintelligencesuperintelligence, n.: A mind, usually imagined as an AI, that would leave even the cleverest people far behind in nearly every kind of thinking, not just in one game or skill. None is known to exist., connectomeconnectome, n.: A full chart of how a nervous system is wired: which nerve cells, or which brain regions, are linked to which others., digital minddigital mind, n.: A mind that exists as software running on computers — such as a sufficiently advanced AI or a digital copy of a human brain — especially when considering its moral and social standing., Future of Humanity InstituteFuture of Humanity Institute, prop. n.: Nick Bostrom's research center at Oxford University (2005–2024), where philosophers and scientists studied threats that could permanently derail humanity's future, advanced artificial intelligence among them., mind uploadingmind uploading, n.: The idea of moving a person's mind out of their biological brain and into a computer, so that they could go on living as software., motivation selectionmotivation selection, n.: Keeping a powerful AI safe by shaping what it wants, so that it chooses to behave well, rather than by restricting what it is able to do., multipolar scenariomultipolar scenario, n.: A possible future in which many powerful AIs, companies or countries coexist and compete, with none able to dominate the rest., Robin HansonRobin Hanson, prop. n.: An American economist who debated Eliezer Yudkowsky about whether AI would take off suddenly or gradually, and who imagined an economy run by digital copies of human minds., substrate independencesubstrate independence, n.: The idea that a mind depends only on the pattern of information processing, not on the material doing it, so a mind could in principle run on silicon as well as on neurons.