I disagree, I think the reason that the stored memory can't be activated before the original dies has nothing to do with technical capabilities and everything to do with concord saying 'there can only be one of you running around, don't do that'.
Well you can disagree, but you can't say for sure, like I can't as well. That's what puts me off in the first place : we simply don't know much about cloning.
=> However considering the case of Zainou's CEO, it is perfectly possible to imagine that such data storage / transfer of a brain pattern is possible as long as there is no discontinuity involved. Which means in your case, that the memory of someone would be copied into that implant at some point and would continue to live into that implant before being retrieved and transferred into a new body. Which starts to be rather grim.
Possible. This is the 'Eclipse Phase' perspective, which is that the implant can outright emulate the brain and have the mind continue running on the implant. I disagree and take the 'Pandora's Star' perspective, that the implant is just memory storage. Audio/video and maybe, maybe some other senses. The reason I take that perspective, is because I assume that the Zainou tech being used to emulate Todo's brain and allowing him to exist as a person on a computer is likely fabulously complicated and probably takes some extremely high end supercomputing technology. Not something you could stuff into an implant.
Pandora Star clearly states that it's the same individual in a new body, so it's definitely more than just declarative memory. The situation becomes interesting when new-teen Dudley finds old-lobotomized Dudley that is not dead and how their different experiences have shaped them both differently while still sharing the exact same original mind.
Anyway, we have no clue if such storage is possible in Eve.
=> Also, considering that PF also states that not only mere transfer of memory is possible but also copy/pasting allowing several clones of the same individual to roam around at the same time, it is perfectly possible to assume that someone is cloned after his/her death and will try to find his/her old self still living into that implant. Weird disturbing stuff, and highly illegal. But I rather like the implication of that. Though is Zainou's transfer tech available to every capsuleer ? Not sure.
Interesting stuff indeed. It opens some really interesting possibilities. What if the implant is recovered by unsavoury types, the person's mind is downloaded into a new body, and they're repetitively tortured? Nasty stuff possible. As for Zainou's tech, I figure its just that a really really advanced computer is required to take a brain scan produced via soft/hard clone, and emulate it out in a computer, essentially simulating the entire brain with sufficient fidelity to actively function as it would a physical brain. I don't think that tech is particularly common, and my character certainly doesn't have access to it.
For the torture part, Takeshi Kovacs trilogy has a very grim and interesting take on virtual torture, and uses similar implant tech like in Pandora Star, except that it's not just storage, but it can be waken up without a new body with a correct interface and people can start to torture the mind inside as they see fit, with compression of time where it can take centuries inside for a few seconds outside. However, no clue how it works in Eve again :/
For Zainou I think iirc that the chronicles speak about a real transfer where Zainou actually lives in a machine, rather than a simple artificial construct looking like him (similar difference made in Greg Mandel from Hamilton). But I may be wrong.
If you only implied that brain data is saved, in the sense images, sounds, or whatever pertains to declarative memory (vs procedural memory), I am not sure where PF stands on the matter, and if actual tampering with memory is possible to that point, as it is a lot more complicated than just copy pasting a pattern (as you will have to actually understand how everything work). Which leads back to my other thread on memory tampering.
I think of the backup as a recording, it takes sensory data, and stores it. It turns the character's eyes and ears into video and audio recorders and stores the data on an internal chip. It might not even be possible to directly reimplant the memories. If the chip was recovered, the character might have to just watch the recording from the implant. No different then if you had a micro-video camera implanted inside your eye really.
And no, it doesn't exist in the PF, we effectively invented it through a bunch of roleplay between myself, Scherezad, and a few others. The idea was to create something that would possibly become widely used and create interesting potential RP. The point was never to godmode, it was to add some diversity to the RP scene with player created stuff.
A backup like a hidden camera in the eye or wherever, recording stuff happening in live is perfectly fine and mundane. I referred to a full declarative memory storage where the tech actually needs to dive into the brain synpases, understand them, and take out all the data and translate it into digital data, which is... not mundane.
And yes, I understand. I am always torn when it comes to such matters. I am myself trying to set up something revolving around direct synaptic communication between two individuals, being able to communicate
everything, which means being able to "hear" the other one the same way you hear yourself thinking. I have been thinking about it for years now trying to see how it fits or not into PF and what I can accommodate or what I just have to thrash. This basing myself on skillbooks, VR and capsule interfacing. Still not sure if it fits or not, so I'm not stepping further with it atm.
I may be some kind of PF ayatollah.