This article is interesting, but it overlooks some of the fundamentals of religion as they stand for at least some branches of Abrahamic religion. In fact, the sect I belong to is fairly theologically conservative, but things like gene engineering are noncontroversial for church doctrine (eugenics and the sanctity of life at conception notwithstanding). A lot of the focus on spirits seems to almost lump some sort of animism in with it; the truth of the matter is a little more complex, at least in my particular sect. We believe in the afterlife, but the soul is viewed as something innate to a person—the manifestation of spirit functions more akin to the movement of God in an individual's mind, and while said mind persists into the afterlife the spirit is also part of human consciousness—backups would be fine, as they are no different in terms of fundamental nature than the original human consciousness. At the very least, the original individual experiences no ill effects. Potentially you even wind up forking your own spirit multiple times, which could be interesting albeit academic. On a more practical point, I find it unlikely that we'll use digital avatars of ourselves as a path to moral self-perfection. Humanity just doesn't seem to work that way—I'd use mine to pursue my own interests, but rarely would I be more virtuous on account of its guidance. While I'm not necessarily against psychosurgery and self-improvement, I find it more likely that we would seek performance, not moral, gains from the ability to create an improved version of ourselves.