Population & Demographics

If people live a two-stage life cycle (i.e., live and have children in biological form, then upload as the body starts to fail), then uploading will not slow the growth of Earth's population. In fact, it will probably accelerate it. However, artificial bodies may be built which are adapted to other environments. They could live comfortably on the surface of the moon or in unpressurized orbiting habitats without protection. It will probably be uploaded pioneers who colonize the solar system, and eventually other stars, returning to Earth for the occasional visit.

As population continues to grow, more and more people may choose to live in artificial realities, which can be much roomier on the inside than on the outside. One can imagine a great orbiting computer, a cubic kilometer of circuitry, housing billions of uploaded people in relative comfort. Or, perhaps, people will live instead in a great network of smaller computers, transferring themselves from one to another just as we send email around the Internet today.