Have you read Richard Morgan? His Takeshi Kovacs novels are awesome.

All complex life requires the two pillars of morality: Empathy/sympathy and reciprocity/fairplay. Multicellular life cannot exist without it. That is why very distinct species can interact and assist each other in thriving. That morality is the soul of life, the weaving of survival. Without it, we become mush or cancer.

To be uploaded into an AI environment, that morality would have to be built into the AI or it would trim away any part of the personality or memories it concidered "irrelevant".

Have you read this?
[bbc.com]

Monkeys next, then humans?? The future has a habit of catching up!! (eh? Was it left behind?)

A solid concept, but it's been done before. What do you have to add?

In reading the statement above my first thought is that a machine could have a soul (as one could not tell the difference, I for a fact do not know if I have a soul, I am told that because I am human I do, by others) and with more technology could not be distinguished from a human (they would be more logical if they were programmed that way). I have thought about the transference of one's thought processes into a computer or other machine and realize that without a lot more technology than we have today it would be a real bore. After all it is the combination of the mind and body that gives us the experiences we look forward to. I for one would hope that we do not get to the point where we are downloaded into anything, i would rather technology and medicine allowed for our bodies to be more long lived.

What about feelings and deep emotions. Can the computers emulate that?

I'll have to ponder your question. However, it did remind me of a Star Trek Next Gen ep, "The Schizoid Man," in which Dr. Ira Graves, who was dying, uploaded his mind into Data so he could live forever. Great episode.

I've taken a similar tract in a screenplay I'm working on, in that a person's memories and identity can be digitized and either returned to the biological host (medical procedure) or inserted into a digital environment (punishment and rehabilitation.) As far as the general response, I'm sure you already know that this is pretty standard fare in the realm of scifi, so it shouldn't be too abstract for your intended audience.

Regarding the thoughts on physical stimulus while in an artificial host, how about a biological modem that acts as a translator between host and environment? The convention should be understandable to the reader, but it may be too deus ex machina for your tastes. Regardless, interesting question, thanks for posting it.

You know, it’s gonna take a lot of persuading to get me to agree to check into a box so I can come out as a shiny new and improved version of myself. I wasn’t born yesterday. How do that the new dude is really me? And how do I know that the old me that I’ve grown accostumed to is really “alive” in the new version. And one more thing: if the person in charge of the “soul” or mind transfer project is named Dr Frankenstein there’s no way I’m doing it.

The problem I see with equating the uploaded mind with the physical mind (assuming you mean human consciousness) is the lack of bodily input which is one element of mind. With that not present and no way to genuinely synthesize it, just how similar will this mind be?

Oh, and don't forget, this is the National Day of Prayer and other Useless Activities in the United States of Murika.

Our minds have memory of physical sensations, pain etc. which we continue to learn from. Interactions with our environment and other people and animals continue to form our personality.

A machine can't feel physical sensations, interact and move about in the same way so the mind in the machine becomes a mind based on memory only.

Wow! My daughter would love to talk with you. She periodically threatens to decant me into a robot dog sort of like Dr. Who's K-9.

Seriously, though - that would be a fun concept to play around with. Lots of what if questions could arise. Such as what if ... hackers? What if ... computer viruses? What if ... significant others don't? The list goes on, of course. What if ... the upload could filter out mental illnesses, Alzheimer's, evil, etc.? What if ... psychopathy or other less desirable (are they really less desirable) traits can be introduced either on purpose or by accident? What about love, lust, romance? What bout aging? What happens to the humans? Who dominates? What if ... the upload damages the human either accidentally or on purpose?

You could generate more ideas for yourself by reading Tanith Lee's "Don't Bite the Sun" and "Drinking Sapphire Wine". In addition, from a reality based perspective, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2017) of Skeptic magazine covered where we are now.

Long before black mirror had the idea. I thought of my late chess playing friend and how it would be possible now to program all of his recorded games onto a hard drive. Then have a game with him after he has gone.

I've read a few futuristic articles on the topic and it is certainly an interesting topic for discussion. I don't know of any novels that cover the topic so far but I would hurry if I were you, especially if you don't wants someone else coming out with your book idea before you do.