The idea of Selfie Immortality

What does “Selfie Church” means?

In fact it is not a church in mass accepted meaning of the word. Most religions rely on the existence of “soul” as part of human entity that maps the road to eternity. There are some differences between religions, but all they say that the soul exists and by following some rules, defined by some type of “God”, you will live forever. In fact, not you, but your soul. Part of you – your body is not eternal and will not exist after your physical death.

The Selfie Church concept is different. It is more scientific, than religious. In fact the word “church” is used due to its popularity in areas related to eternal life. No other human institution is so close to the eternal life analysis as the religion and different churches. That’s why the name “Selfie Church” was chosen. It could be also something like this: “Selfie Academy of Mind Reproducing Sciences”. Anyway this would not be so attractive and would spread much slower among the public. And we find the fast spread important. Much people are close to the end of their life and have very limited time to eventually create a record of the output of their minds. And if our concept is true, now these people have the chance to be revived one day. So the fast spread of our ideas is important especially for old people, for ill and so on. That’s why “church” is better than “academy”.

So Selfie Church is a project for immortality that assumes that human identity is the content of human mind, and is product of human brain. I.e. you are your consciousness. Therefore if somehow this consciousness can be reproduced after the death of the brain, this will be de facto resurrection of the human itself. Soul is not needed in this approach and this makes this religion, church or belief, much different from the classic religions.

In fact Selfie Church differs from classical churches even it its attitude towards them. Common for almost all churches is that they deny and repudiate all other churches. All religions pretend they are “the only true religion” and that only they offer “true salvation”. All other religions are wrong and even are misleading invention of the Evil in its attempt to take your soul.

Selfie Church does not deny the other churches. You can remain Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or any other belief follower. We don’t touch the area of “soul” and we don’t offer its salvation. In fact, we think your up to now religion is part of your consciousness and must be also recorded. It will be needed in your future resurrection. You will not be the same man without your religion. We assume our concept can turn some people to atheism. Anyway even they will have to write about their previous beliefs as they are part of their identity. And finally unlike classic religions we don’t pretend being infallible. It is absolutely possible the soul exists. In this case for you will be better to have any classic religion as a hope to save it.

All we offer is salvation of your mind and consciousness. If that is all of you, then you will be immortal. If the soul exists, and is needed, then you will have to rely your current God.

Why “selfie”?

“Selfie” is an extremely popular term in current driven by information world. So just as with “church” it is a good word to present the idea. But in fact it is something more. “Selfie” is exactly what you must create now, to have a chance for resurrection in future. But it is much more wider meaning of selfie. It is not just a self made photo by your mobile phone. It is an enormous quantity of information about you, about all your life, about the society you live in, about your friends, etc. And most important – selfie must be a product of your mind. It must be generated by it, with the most possible creative effort. Much generated by your mind output is needed so when in future it is backwards analyzed (from the end to start), to be possible to discover the structure and the way of functioning of the original creator. It is the idea of “reverse engineering” applied to human and its consciousness. So be generous, don’t save effort and create the biggest, the richest and maximally detailed selfie of yourself.

Reverse engineering of mind?

Yes. And that is the essence of Selfie Church concept. We believe this is possible and will be reality in future. The development of different sciences will lead to situation when based on enough data, a next-level computer will be able to re-create the consciousness of people that are not alive since centuries. So the thing we can do now is to create this data and memorize it. Then it will wait, until humankind knowledge develops enough.

But is “reverse engineering” of mind possible at all?

Yes, definitely it is. Generally we can divide human thinking in 2 parts – random and non-random, i.e. defined by an array of some variables. The random part can be simulated even now. There are random generators of different types. In addition randomness is a characteristic of nature itself, it is not applied only to human thinking. So it will ever exist. Therefore we must think on non-random part. I.e. deterministic part.

Right now we are very far away from understanding the human mind. No one knows how this small – less than 2 kg device, is capable on such a complex activity as thinking, exploring the Universe, inventing planes and painting Mona Lisa. So perceive your mind as a “black box”.

This is a concept of analyzing used in science and mostly in computers and IT. To explore something you don’t need to know everything about it. Instead you can explore its output and based on some laws and principles, you can find how it is working and even what is the source of the outputted data,

Lets look at a little example…

Imagine you have a box that is containing 3 integer numbers. This is your consciousness. For instance my 3 numbers are 2, 5, 0. This is the box called “Dobri”. Yours are 7, 6, 4. And so on. Depending on these numbers we are different people. Anyway if there appears another person with 2, 5, 0, then it is a second Me.

But we don’t know the numbers. Can then “Dobri” be recreated?

Yes.

Imagine Dobri is outputting different numbers that are result of some calculation, based on initial numbers. For instance I am outputting the sum of my numbers – 7. Then I am outputting the difference between 2 higher numbers – 3. Then I am outputting the product of 3 numbers – 0. Then the product of any combination of 2 numbers – 2×0=0, 5×0=0, 2×5=10. And so on. So finally we will have a sheet with 20 or 30 numbers, that are product of initial 3 numbers with different operations. By combining all this data and logically analyzing it, we will be able to find the initial numbers. And then – create a copy of this “black box”.

Let’s do the analysis. We have the product of 3 numbers that is 0. Therefore at least one of the numbers is 0. We have the first number. Then we have that the product of one of the combinations of 2 numbers is 10. Obviously these means that we have 2 numbers that are not 0. And finally, the only multiplication of 2 integer numbers that gives as a result 10 is 2 and 5. In fact we even did not use the entire outputted by Dobri data.

In fact it will be much more complex. Much more output results will have to be analyzed. And much more initial variables will have to be discovered. But the idea is as today we can create and record enormous quantity of “brain product”, so in future this record will be enough for a “reverse engineering” of our mind…

So in conclusion if we look at consciousness as at “black box”, and if we have enough output of this “black box” so the analysis of data can lead to understanding the box itself. And even creating “another box” with the same functionality.

In short:

1.Your current consciousness is in your brain.

2.It can output enormous quantity of data, that in fact will be a type of “footprint” of itself. May be “mind-print” is a better term.

3.In future in another box (computer system of super-next generation) the same consciousness will be recreated. The 2 black-boxes will be equal and do exactly one and the same. I.e. you will be resurrected.

Is all this only matter of computer science?

Definitely No.

Right now there is no doubt that one day artificial intellect (AI) will be created. Thousands of scientists are working every day on this and even now we can see real results. So the part called “computer science” looks clear.

Anyway this is not enough for immortality. Yes, a clear new AI, when created will be immortal. But to recreate the natural mind of a man much more will be needed. In fact the entire non-random part of our mind will have to be explored. All variables that exists and interact with each other will have to be found. The human thinking will have to be “translated” to the same basic operations that will build up the AI. And as AI exists and is functioning, therefore the natural intellect will be possible to be recreated based on the same foundations. They may be even further developed in areas not needed by AI, due to specific needs of natural mind. But once we have a base for AI, it is only a matter of time and further development to recreate a natural mind as AI.

But how will we make this “translation”?

This is the hard part. It is not computer one. It is mostly psychology. This will have to become almost mathematically precise science. It will interact with medicine and exploration of human brain. In addition  “organic electronics” will have to be enormously developed to explore the electric impulses as part of our thinking. Brain chemistry will also be needed to find chemical part. And much other research in may be unimaginable now new sciences will be needed before we can tell: “We know all brain variables, all their interactions, and principles of natural intellect”. This is centuries distant and most of effort – far away from computers…

But when this happens, when we know the principles of the “black box”, then the recorded output of non-existing already black-boxes will make them exist again…

What is the best way to “express” yourself?

This is a very complex question, as we don’t know exactly how the brain is woking and which one of its outputs best describes it. So the best way to express yourself is to generate as much content as possible. Any type of content you can imagine. The only and main requirement is this generated by you information, to be true. If you want being resurrected in 100% original, you must not lie. Otherwise you will mislead your resurrector. In fact if generated content is big enough and if the AI is clever enough it may detect your lies and filter them. In this case we can say that even when lying you are making the way to immortality. Anyway it is not a good idea to rely the computer to fix your bugs – random or intentional. In short – being honest and creating big quantity of content is the main requirement of the best expression.

But what are best subtypes of content?

Without pretending this answer is the best, it looks as writing texts is the best expression of the thinking process. Write whatever you want. It does not need to be a high quality or Hemingway style. It just needs to be created by you. An output of your brain. Not copy-paste. So write everything. Write your family history, write about current politics, about music superstars, about a new book you liked, a new movie, about a good girl or boy on street, about whatever can flash in your mind. Write about it. This will be an imprint of your consciousness.

But writing is not the only way to express yourself. Any type of creative thinking and recording it will do the same. I.e. you can also paint pictures. This also creates an imprint of your mind. And in fact you don’t need to be a professional painter. Evan a bad picture will bring information about you. In fact the author of this text is not very good in painting. Anyway he plans to add some hand-made pictures to his dossier of immortality.

You can also compose music or even play music of other composers and sing others songs. Your performance will contain information about you.

Generally – describe yourself in any way you can imagine. Go to IQ tests and record the result, the answer of any question and the time for passing the test. Solve mathematical equations and write down your solution. Analyze philosophical questions and write down your thoughts. If you want, you can even attach a camera to you to follow all your days and nights and record any your word, reaction, sneeze, etc. Anyway have in mind that this will cost much storage space and is doubtful it will fit in free quotas of current storage services.

In fact we can’t list now all possible ways of expressing yourself. Wa assume human creativity and human yearning for immortality will invent entirely new means to express and describe. May be even services with enormous questionnaires and tests will appear to help you best describe yourself.

But the main requirement will always be one and the same – all recorded must be product of your brain and your consciousness. And most important – be honest…

Being absolutely honest means a kind of confession. This is very private information. It can hurt me if someone else looks at it…

Just encrypt everything. Encrypt before uploading. And leave the key to be published for instance 30 or 100 years after your death. In fact it is expected that even the key will not be needed by the AI when resurrecting starts. A computer with enough power to recreate the consciousness will have no problem to break any current encrypting technology. So your info will remain secret up to the day of your second life. Anyway don’t be too assiduous. Don’t make impossible even for God to read your content. Theoretically encryption that will need the entire power of Universe to decrypt is possible. Don’t be so secure…