
The movement of biological tissue, requiring either imaging faster than it can move or accurate tracking.The scanning needs to acquire the relevant information at the necessary 3D resolution. Non-destructive scanning requires minimally invasive methods.

Gradual replacement is hence not likely as a first form of brain emulation scanning. The technology needed to achieve it could definitely be used for scanning by disassembly. While gradual replacement might assuage fears of loss of consciousness and identity it appears technically very complex as the scanning system has to not only scan a living, changing organism but also interface seamlessly with it at least on the submicron scale while working. Eventually only the artificial system remains, and the information stored can if desired be moved (Morevec 1988). Scanning might also occur in the form of gradual replacement, as piece after piece of the brain are replaced by an artificial neural system interfacing with the brain and maintaining the same functional interactions as the lost pieces. Scanning may be destructive, where the brain is destructively disassembled, or non-destructive, in which case the brain is left viable afterwards.

There are several potential approaches to scanning. If emulation can be achieved using only functional properties of neurons then it may be enough to determine neuron type, connectivity and synaptic strengths. a synapse from a smooth neuron with a particular morphology is likely inhibitory), but it does not seem clear how much information about synaptic strength can be inferred from pure geometry. It may be possible to infer functional properties such as whether a synapse is excitatory or inhibitory purely from geometry (i.e. This needs to be done at a sufficient resolution. The first step in brain emulation is to acquire the necessary information from a physical brain, which we will call scanning.īrain emulation for compartment models of neuron activity needs to acquire both geometric data about the localisation, morphology and structure of the nervous connections and functional/chemical data about their nature such as what ion channels, receptors and neurotransmittors are present, the presence of electrical synapses, electrical membrane properties, phosphorylation states of synapses and genetic expression states. Scanning, Non destructive scanning, destructive scanning
