Let's pretend mind uploading is possible.

I’m trying to estimate how many bytes are required to simulate a human consciousness in a realistic environment.

Hypothesis for Calculation:

So far, I’ve been trying to break this down into different components:

1. Neuronal Activity Simulation

• The human brain has about 86 billion neurons, each connected to other neurons through synapses (around 100 trillion synapses in total).
• If each synapse can be represented by 4 bytes (to account for things like neurotransmitter type and synaptic strength), the total would be 400 terabytes.

2. Memory and Cognitive Functions

• I assume that modeling long-term and short-term memory, as well as various cognitive processes, would add significantly to the data. Some estimates suggest the brain’s memory capacity might range from 2.5 to 100 petabytes.

3. Sensory Input Simulation

• For a fully immersive simulation, we'd also need to simulate sensory inputs (vision, hearing, touch, etc.). This means generating and processing real-time data streams of sensory information. For instance, an 8K video stream generates several gigabytes of data per hour, but that’s just for vision. Auditory and other sensory inputs would add more.

4. Consciousness and Self-Perception

• This is the trickiest part—how do you simulate self-awareness, introspection, and subjective experiences? These abstract aspects might require more data than purely physical models.

Total Estimated Size So Far:

For now, based on the above, I've estimated a rough size of around 1 to 2 petabytes to simulate a single human consciousness and environment in real-time. This takes into account neuron activity, memory, sensory data, and some guesswork for the more abstract aspects of self-awareness.

But I know this is likely oversimplified and may be far off the mark. The idea is to model the brain and its interactions in a realistic way, but also to keep the simulation efficient enough to be computationally feasible (or at least theoretically feasible, given advances in AI and neuromorphic hardware).