first (?) instance of Non-destructive Uploading?: creation of wormvec

[chris0033547]

Short on time but how is this an upload? Did they use one specific worm and copy its connectome perfectly. Or did they, through studying the connectome of multiple worms, emulate a generic one?

I think, I was too quick in judging this to be the first upload. Instead it's basically a virtual worm:

All [..] are based upon [..] embodied originals.

Although it's certainly not an emulation of such a worm but a simulation. Here's the link to the paper:

http://www.academia.edu/7841548/Extendin...o_Robotics

All of this is part of the OpenWorm-project:

http://docs.openworm.org/en/latest/model...nvironment

For example in chapter 3.3 of the paper under the academia-link he writes:

I realized the only way to simulate this wide ranging neuron in my simple, one sensor model was to increase the synaptic weight. I changed these neuronal weights to 20 and harsh body touch became much more relevant. [..] I'm not pleased by its simplicity and I feel the model is pulling away from a true simulation and more into the realm of model creation that forces the behavior rather than a more biological representation.

So it's definitely a partial simulation - not an emulation - of a generic worm. To quote from the following paper:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20335372

worms have been shown to habituate to mechanical and chemical stimuli, as well as learn the smells, tastes, temperatures, and oxygen levels that predict aversive chemicals or the presence or absence of food.

And that means that each worm is an individual. But the way, I understand it, Busbice didn't reproduce the synaptic weights of a specific worm. He created a virtual worm instead. I also found the following discussion:

http://www.jefftk.com/p/we-havent-uploaded-worms

So it's certainly not an upload but the question is: Is this virtual worm an individual or not? I think that in the end this question is not really important for us, because e's still a virtual life form. I don't think there is a requirement in OA that a virtual must be an individual. For example is a Notee an individual? :

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47f4311eaef31

Whether a Notee is an individual or not is not that important. What is important is that a Notee is still a virtual (and sometimes a biont). So how about this EG entry:

45 - The partial simulation of the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by a group of researchers around Timothy Busbice marks the first successful creation of a virtual based upon an organic life form.