qntm's 'Lena': the sci-fi story of the first executable human brain snapshot
louisvarge · x · 2026-10-22
Sharing qntm's cult sci-fi story 'Lena' — 'probably what it's like to be a C57BL/6J mouse.'
- Set in 2031: the Uplift Lab at the University of New Mexico captures MMAcevedo, the first brain emulation that can run in simulation without crashing — a 974.3PiB snapshot of grad student Miguel Acevedo, later losslessly compressed to 6.75TiB.
- The copy, stripped of most memories to save space, is endlessly re-instantiated for experiments, raising unsettling questions about consent, suffering, and identity of uploaded copies.
- A staple read in AI/brain-emulation circles for thinking through mind-uploading ethics.
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