Editing Mind transfer

{{Status|Canon}}
[[File:Composed_essences.jpg|thumb|300px|A visualized abstraction of archived human essences processed by the [[Composer]].]]
'''Mind transfer''' is the process of duplicating or transferring the consciousness and memories of an individual from their original brain substrate into a digital or quantum-based computational system or another biological neural network. Through a simulation of the original brain's neural functions, the mind is able to continue its existence as a conscious and self-aware entity; in cases of advanced mind uploading, there is virtually no distinction between the original and the upload.

Once mastered and employed by the [[Forerunner]]s to a great extent, a more limited form of mind uploading was later adopted by [[human]]ity as their only viable means of creating self-aware [[smart AI|"smart" AI]]s.{{Ref/Book|Id=journal|Dr. Halsey's personal journal|Detail=May 3, 2526}}

==Forerunner==
===Terminology===
In [[The Forerunner Saga|translations]] of Forerunner records, a mind, by itself and particularly when separated from its biological body, is often referred to as an ''essence'';{{Ref/Reuse|evg132}} this is in many ways comparable to the metaphysical concept of a soul, especially in contexts involving the [[Domain]].<ref name="p234">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 234-235'' (''"But to all of us there is a time like this, when the Domain seeks to confirm our essences, and for you, that time is now"'')</ref> ''Pattern'' is a largely analogous term, although it appears to particularly emphasize the physical and quantifiable aspects of the neural and biological content;<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 229''</ref> essence referring more to the mind itself, with pattern being its organic or virtual framework. A pattern also often contains the complete information of the accompanying physical body in addition to the neural map.<ref name="bodyrecord">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 357''</ref> The act of uploading the essence or pattern into another housing system is known as ''imprinting'';<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 224''</ref> by extension, the product of this process is known as an ''imprint'', although this term is often used interchangeably with the term ''pattern''.<ref name="imprint">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 28, 274''</ref> An ''impression'' is seemingly an incomplete or partial essence, containing assorted thoughts and memories from an individual's final moments.<ref name="c238">'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 238''</ref>{{Ref/Note|These terms are never exhaustively defined in ''The Forerunner Saga''; the definitions presented here are largely derived from the context in which each term is used.}} The uploading of a biological mind into a machine-based storage system has also been referred to as ''scanning''{{Ref/Reuse|compound}} or ''sublimation'' in some contexts, with a machine designed to perform such transfers being referred to as a ''sublimation device''.{{Ref/Book|Id=evg132|EVG|Page=132}}<ref name="catalog">[https://web.archive.org/web/20141012145601/https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2969311_Catalog-Interaction.aspx '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Catalog Interaction - Page 14'']</ref>

The [[Erde-Tyrene civilization|primitive human]]s living in the Forerunners' time called their imprinted essences ''spirits'', a rather apt descriptor in light of their existing cultural framework.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 155''</ref>

===General===
[[File:H4-SO-Durance-PrometheanSoul.jpg|thumb|250px|A visual manifestation of the enslaved human essence of a [[Promethean Knight]] contained in the [[Durance]] known as the "[[Didact's Gift]]".]]
The transfer and quantum foam-based storage{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=131}} of mental content were ubiquitous in Forerunner society. The computing systems of the [[Forerunner personal armor|personal armor]] worn by virtually all Forerunners were integrated with the wearer's mind to such an extent that the Forerunner's consciousness virtually occupied the armor alongside their organic brain. The armor's dedicated [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] construct—[[ancilla]]—was likewise melded with the wearer's mind and aided them in the organization of memories and other tasks. As an emergency measure, the armor could delete memories and experiences deemed excessively traumatic, or even "reset" the wearer's personality to its normal state in the event of external tampering with their brain.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=161}} In the rare event of the wearer's death, the armor would preserve the consciousness—or the final impressions of it—which would then traditionally be collected and placed into an "imprint matrix" known as a [[Durance]].{{Ref/Novel|Cry|Page=47-48}}{{Ref/Book|H4EVG|Page=134}}

Thanks to the same integration, Forerunners could also upload offshoots of their consciousness to be housed in computing systems managed by ancillas; such an imprint could be created and uploaded into said systems at will within moments,{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=297-299}} with the resulting intelligence being, for all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from the original mind. An example of a machine imprint created in this manner is the [[Librarian]]'s stored essence she left on [[Requiem]] to guide future visitors.{{Ref/Level|Id=reclaimer|H4|Reclaimer (level)|Reclaimer}} Another personality imprint was left in a [[Lifeworker]] pod inside of [[Kilimanjaro]] on [[Earth]]. This imprint suggested that there were even more imprints out there that had gone to the [[Absolute Record]]. This imprint displayed the knowledge of the actions of her imprint on Requiem.{{Ref/Novel|Ren|Chapter=48}}

[[War sphinx]]es retained impressions of the final moments of their deceased pilots. Although these essences were less complete than Durances, they were nonetheless preserved for study by [[Warrior-Servant|Warrior]] commanders.{{Ref/Reuse|c238}}{{Ref/Novel|Cry|Page=138}} It was also a Warrior-Servant tradition to extract the memory impressions of their defeated enemies, partly for the purposes of interrogation.{{Ref/Novel|Cry|Page=188}}

An automated sublimation device on [[X50]] extracted the final patterns of [[Spartan Operations|Spartan]] [[Edward Davis]] during the [[Battle of Draetheus V]] in [[2554]].{{Ref/Reuse|catalog}} Davis' impressions were placed into a Durance which was recovered by the UNSC at the conclusion of the battle.{{Ref/Level|SA|Mission 30: The Source}}

===Full pattern uploading===
Forerunners were capable of extracting not only an organic being's brain state, but also simultaneously retaining the complete pattern of their biological body.{{Ref/Reuse|bodyrecord}} The body could then be simulated—either virtually or in [[hard light]] form—so perfectly that the archived individuals themselves may potentially be left unaware of their incorporeal state.<ref name="compound">'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 194-195''</ref>

In the later stages of the [[Conservation Measure]] during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], the [[Lifeworker]]s used this form of pattern extraction technology to "store" individuals they did not have space for as raw data, to later recreate them from their virtual forms. The extraction process itself was gentle and painless, unlike that of the long-abandoned [[Composer]]s.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 57''</ref> On [[Installation 07]], the Lifeworker known as [[Genemender Folder of Fortune]] scanned and archived himself as well as all humans he came across in this manner, lest they be exploited by the [[Faber|Master Builder]]. This technology also extracted and preserved the ancestral personality imprints the humans carried as part of the Librarian's geas. Genemender held the stored essences in stasis but occasionally "refreshed" them by allowing them to simulate physical interaction within his compound—itself largely a hard light simulation.{{Ref/Reuse|compound}} In the case of Genemender's station, specialized [[monitor]]s were involved in the scanning process.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 193''</ref>

The [[monitor]] later known as [[343 Guilty Spark]] was created through a process of gradual uploading; [[Chakas]]' dying biological body was connected to a harness which gradually transferred his consciousness into the artificial computing system of a monitor. Chakas was conscious for some portions of this process and existed as a hybrid of his biological and virtual self for a time; for example, he found he was able to measure distances with exact accuracy while still connected to his body.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 359''</ref> According to the [[IsoDidact]], the intelligence Chakas would become—initially known as Monitor Chakas—would be capable of simulating physical sensations,{{Ref/Reuse|bodyrecord}} much like the archived humans in Genemender's village.{{Ref/Reuse|compound}}

===Biological imprinting===
Through the means employed in a [[Forerunner mutation|mutation]]—the artificially-induced process through which Forerunners traditionally matured into higher [[form]]s—it was possible for the mentor to imprint their complete pattern over the Forerunner undergoing the mutation. This would transfer the mentor's essence and, in time, enable said essence to function within the host body. The imprinted Forerunner would also gradually grow into a physical facsimile of the mentor. By imprinting a [[Manipular]] known as [[IsoDidact|Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting]], the [[Ur-Didact]] created another incarnation of himself, who later supplanted the duties of his original.{{Ref/Reuse|imprint}}

Despite the Forerunners' mastery of many related technologies, transferring a digitally-encoded personality into an inert biological body — "essence sheathing" — was expressly prohibited due to a number of risks inherent with this type of technology.{{Ref/Reuse|catalog}} Nonetheless, a certain form of essence sheathing is known to have successfully taken place. The Librarian imprinted human essences extracted via [[Composer]]s at the close of the [[Battle of Charum Hakkor]] into the genetic material of future human generations through a ''[[geas]]'', the minds themselves dormant but programmed to awaken at the right triggers. [[Riser]] and [[Chakas]] were host to such essences; namely those of [[Yprin Yprikushma]] and [[Forthencho]], respectively.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''pages 224-226''</ref>

===Composer===
[[File:H4 Composer effects.jpg|thumb|250px|The effects of the Composer on the personnel of ''[[Ivanoff Station]]''.]]
The [[Composer]] was a sublimation device designed by the [[Builder]]s as a means of saving Forerunners infected by the [[Flood]]. By broadcasting wide-ranging high-energy fields of entangled sympathies,<ref name="composer">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 40-41''</ref> Composers retrieved their victims' patterns while reducing the targeted individuals to ash, also eradicating any Flood infection present. In the original design, new bodies would be grown for the extracted essences to inhabit. Unfortunately, the process was flawed and the essences could never be restored to biological form;{{Ref/Reuse|composer}} in addition to the Composer's inability to properly transcribe the essences in their new bodies, the Forerunners learned that any individuals afflicted by the Flood would also be corrupted on a metaphysical level, which caused the new bodies to rapidly decay and die.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 320'' (''"Composer-gathered essences have been imprinted over living humans; and those essences are now rotting the bodies from within, maligned by the Flood parasite."'')</ref>

Nevertheless, the Composer found new uses; first as a means by the [[Ecumene Council|Old Council]] to punish the human survivors on [[Charum Hakkor]], who had their essences forcibly harvested and then subjected to an endless interrogation rote for the next several thousands of years in order to decipher their supposed immunity or cure to the Flood.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 43''</ref> Later, the Ur-Didact planned to wield the Composer as a weapon to convert all of humanity into [[Promethean Knight|mechanized slaves]] in order to forever neutralize them as a threat.{{Ref/Reuse|reclaimer}}

===Domain===
The Forerunners' metaphysical information repository known as the [[Domain]] retained the essences of deceased Forerunners in an esoteric, transcendent state only partially accessible to living Forerunners.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=256}} The Forerunners believed that upon death, one's essence would be uploaded into the Domain where they would have access to the sum of all knowledge contained therein.{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=55}} As the Domain was created by the [[Precursor]]s as a means to collect all life-patterns and "living wisdom",{{Ref/Novel|Sil|Page=322}} these beliefs may well hold true.

After being composed himself, the [[Ur-Didact]] would learn that this belief was true. The Didact was sent to the outer boundaries of the Domain where he learned that both the Forerunners who died and the humans who fell victim to the [[Composer]] -- both [[Ancestors]] and from the [[New Phoenix Incident]] -- had also been uploaded to the Domain. However, the damage to the Domain done by the [[Great Purification]] resulted in it shutting out nearly all of the Forerunners who perished in the [[Halo Array]]'s firing, leaving them trapped in the outer boundaries with the [[Warden Eternal]] blocking entrance afterwards.{{Ref/Novel|Epi|14}} The one known exception to this was the [[Librarian]] who, as someone whose connections and contributions to [[Living Time]] exceeded all hopes and expectations, was pulled into the Domain when the Array was fired.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi10|Epi|10}} The Didact rallied the essences trapped outside of the Domain to destroy the Warden Eternal and reopen the Domain. Afterwards, the Didact welcomed the essences of both the Forerunners and humans into to Domain, giving them a home, a place to heal and rest, to commune and explore.{{Ref/Novel|Epi|25}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi26|Epi|26}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=Epi27|Epi|27}}
{{Clear}}

==Human==
[[File:Halsey rampancy diagram.png|thumb|250px|A representation of a "smart" AI's neural map and the process of [[rampancy]] drawn by [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]].]]
In [[Cognitive Impression Modeling]], the process used to create [[smart AI]]s, a human brain is mapped and replicated into a digital storage system known as a [[Riemann matrix]]. The biological brain is necessary because human technology is unable to create a working neural architecture from scratch. As the neural tissue is destroyed in the process, the brains are almost invariably recovered from recently deceased "brain donors". The intelligence created through this process is not a perfect copy of the original; the scanned neural map is only used as the seed for the AI matrix, which will rewrite its neural map into a superior system within moments of its creation.{{Ref/Reuse|journal}} While fully developed smart AIs are effectively distinct entities of their own, they are known to retain memories and even certain personality traits of their donor individuals. These retained traits may include memories of specific events, or physical sensations: [[Sif]], for example, likened wagons moving on [[Harvest space elevators|"her" space tether strands]] to her brain donor's memory of grooming her own hair.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 33''</ref>

Humans have also developed a procedure allowing the transfer of a living person's mental content to a cloned organic body. As part of her effort to create full human [[flash clone]]s to replace the [[SPARTAN-II]] candidates, [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] developed a technique through which a living person's memories can be transferred to a flash clone's brain, creating a clone that is virtually identical to their original host. This process used a "Fast Fourier Transform X-ray 3-D scan" to map a human brain's ionic density patterns. This data could then be used to create a virtual map of every individual link in a brain's neural pattern. This data would then be used in a deep-stimulating scan of a flash clone's "blank" brain, which would cultivate an identical pattern of linkages and accurately replicate the memories of the host person. Unfortunately, this memory replication results in an 82-percent rate of dementia, schizophrenia, and [[cancer]]s in the recipient brain.{{Ref/Reuse|journal}}

==Flood==
Through unknowable mechanisms, the [[Gravemind]]—the [[Flood]]'s collective intelligence—retains the consciousness and memories of past Graveminds even if the Flood on the whole is reduced into non-sentience in the interim. This process is seemingly unaffected by the passage of enormous spans of time; the Gravemind at the time of the [[Human-Covenant War]] possessed the memories of the one active during the [[Forerunner-Flood war]].{{Ref/Level|H3|Halo (Halo 3 level)|Halo 3|Quote=Resignation is my virtue; like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved... But you imposed.|Quotee=[[Gravemind|The Gravemind]]}} Yet earlier, the archaic Gravemind and Precursor entity known as the [[Primordial]] experienced the passage of a billion years in a reverse [[timelock]], its physical form disintegrating to dust due to entropy, only to reappear in the form of the "modern" Gravemind.<ref name="s167">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 167'' (''"This being was not the Primordial I encountered on Charum Hakkor, but something else entirely-though it retained the Primordial's motives and thoughts and memories. It was a Gravemind-the Gravemind, more accurately. It was the Primordial's final act of revenge."'')</ref>

Due to the nature of the Flood as a corrupt and fallen state of the Precursors, a transentient species who apparently allowed themselves to become extinct and revolve many times, the Flood may inherit a similar ability; the pattern and nature of the Gravemind remaining cohesive between individual and unconnected instantiations.

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{Fm}}
*''[[i love bees]]''
*''[[Halo 3]]'' {{Im}}
*''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''
**''[[Human Weakness]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Reach]]''
**''[[Data pads]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Cryptum]]''
*''[[Halo: Glasslands]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Primordium]]''
*''[[Halo: The Thursday War]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo 4]]''
**''[[Terminal (Halo 4)|Terminals]]''
**''[[Spartan Ops]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Silentium]]''
*''[[Halo: Spartan Assault]]''
*''[[Halo: Mortal Dictata]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Hunt the Truth]]''
*''[[Halo: Renegades]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Point of Light]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Epitaph]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Fifth Canticle]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Edge of Dawn]]'' {{Mo}}

==Notes==
{{Ref/Notes}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources|2}}

{{Forerunner|technology}}
[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:Artificial intelligence]]