Assuming that we accept that the 'arrangement' is what we are, and not the specific atoms, copying that arrangement would produce a new arrangement that isn't you, since all the atoms are arranged differently relative to all the other atoms in the universe.
Assuming that the preceding is wrong, and that it's only the relative arrangement of atoms inside the brain that matters, a computer representation of the arrangement of atoms is represented by a totally different arrangement of atoms that is the computer, and therefore cannot be you.
Uploading only works if we can say that you are just an abstract mathematical pattern that can be represented in any medium. Quantum physics does not address this question. It is a question of philosophy.
(I studied this kind of philosophy in college, mostly determinism, epistemology and the computational representational model of the mind)
Agreed.
What do you mean when you say "I".
Sure you can point the the brain. But when we look at the brain, we see the following "physical" attributes:
1. Atoms and their more complex configurations (molecules)
2. Electricity
3. Chemicals
4. Causal connections between the above 3.
So I ask again, where exactly is "I"? The easy answer is to say "I" is the conjunction of this system.
So that would mean that if we can take that system, and recreate it somewhere else, then that system would represent "I" as well.
This is problematic. Take the above as true and then think what it would mean to not CUT and paste, but just COPY and paste.
There are now two "I"'s walking around. Would you, looking at the copy and paste version of yourself then say that you are still "I"? Or are both of you "I"? Well, you are certainly not the "I" that your other self is saying is "I". Because you are looking at it. It can't be "I". So what the f#$k is powering that thing?
By that logic, what you are is more than just the physical. There are things like Qualia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia), meaning, memories and the associations between completely unrelated things that, as far as I am aware, we cannot map to the physical manifestation of the brain.
None of this is to say that brain uploading is impossible, because we just simply don't have enough information to refute or defend its possibility.
But I believe that the brain is more complex then the pure physical.
I think we are in agreement. Although I'll comment that I think the brain is purely physical, but that the mind is an abstract entity that we don't have a good understanding of. It extends beyond the brain, not in a supernatural sense, but in a causal one.
Assuming that the preceding is wrong, and that it's only the relative arrangement of atoms inside the brain that matters, a computer representation of the arrangement of atoms is represented by a totally different arrangement of atoms that is the computer, and therefore cannot be you.
Uploading only works if we can say that you are just an abstract mathematical pattern that can be represented in any medium. Quantum physics does not address this question. It is a question of philosophy.