# Copying a Brain Requires More Than Copying Its Information by George Church > "We can back-up petabytes of sili-brains perfectly in seconds, but transfer of information between carbo-brains takes decades and the similarity between the copies is barely recognizable. Some speculate that we could translate from carbo to sili, and even get the sili version to behave like the original. However, such a task requires much deeper understanding than merely making a copy." > **— George Church**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* ## Sources and Context - **Full authored response and quotation context:** [What Do You Care What Other Machines Think?](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/26027) — Edge's 2015 annual-question response by George Church; the linked page contains the complete response and quoted passage. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] - **Article:** [[articles/Uploading Is Imminent|Uploading Is Imminent]] - **Article:** [[articles/Escape Hatch in the Skull|Escape Hatch in the Skull]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Mind Uploading|Mind Uploading]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/George Church|George Church]] - [[wiki/Digital Replica|Digital Replica]] - [[wiki/Post-Biological Embodiment|Post-Biological Embodiment]] - [[wiki/Cross-Substrate Agency Attribution|Cross-Substrate Agency Attribution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "We can back-up petabytes of sili-brains perfectly in seconds, but transfer of information between carbo-brains takes decades and the similarity between the copies is barely recognizable. Some speculate that we could translate from carbo to sili, and even get the sili version to behave like the original. However, such a task requires much deeper understanding than merely making a copy." — George Church, 2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-george-church-copying-brain-requires-more-copying ```