Editing Mind uploading (section)

===Serial sectioning===
[[File:User-FastFission-brain.gif|thumb|right|Serial sectioning of a brain]]

A possible method for mind uploading is serial sectioning, in which the brain tissue and perhaps other parts of the nervous system are frozen and then scanned and analyzed layer by layer, which for frozen samples at nano-scale requires a cryo-[[ultramicrotome]], thus capturing the structure of the neurons and their interconnections.<ref name="Merkle 1989">Merkle, R., 1989, [http://www.merkle.com/merkleDir/brainAnalysis.html Large scale analysis of neural structures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204045807/http://www.merkle.com/merkleDir/brainAnalysis.html |date=2012-02-04 }}, CSL-89-10 November 1989, [P89-00173]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chalmers |first=David J. |date=2014-06-13 |chapter=Uploading: A Philosophical Analysis |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118736302.ch6 |title=Intelligence Unbound |pages=102–118 |doi=10.1002/9781118736302.ch6|isbn=9781118736418 }}</ref> The exposed surface of frozen nerve tissue would be scanned and recorded, and then the surface layer of tissue removed. While this would be a very slow and labor-intensive process, research is underway to automate the collection and microscopy of serial sections.<ref name="ATLUM Project">[http://www.mcb.harvard.edu/lichtman/ATLUM/ATLUM_web.htm ATLUM Project], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201055512/http://www.mcb.harvard.edu/lichtman/ATLUM/ATLUM_web.htm|date=2008-02-01}}.</ref> The scans would then be analyzed, and a model of the neural net recreated in the system into which the mind was being uploaded.

There are uncertainties with this approach using current microscopy techniques. If it is possible to replicate neuron function from its visible structure alone, then the resolution afforded by a [[scanning electron microscope]] would suffice for such a technique.<ref name="ATLUM Project"/> However, as the function of brain tissue is partially determined by molecular events (particularly at [[synapse]]s, but also at [[Ion channel|other]] places on the neuron's cell [[Membrane potential|membrane]]), this may not suffice for capturing and simulating neuron functions. It may be possible to extend the techniques of serial sectioning and to capture the internal molecular makeup of neurons, through the use of sophisticated [[immunohistochemistry]] staining methods that could then be read via [[confocal laser scanning microscopy]]. However, as the physiological genesis of 'mind' is not currently known, this method may not be able to access all of the necessary biochemical information to recreate a human brain with sufficient fidelity.