Hello. I am interested in the process by which I could download everything from a brain and
upload it into a brain inside the body of Ryan Reynolds so I could have lots of cool
fun. Is that possible? Asking for a friend.
Hey brainiacs, Trace here for DNews! Over the centuries, we've compared our brain to
clocks, telephone switchboards, and now (of course) computers; but really the brain is
none of these things. It's its own thing. In the upcoming movie Self/Less, a dying man
uses crazy cool technology to transfer his consciousness into a younger man's body. One
would assume each brain has similar programming for how to run a heart, manage an immune system
and so on -- so we just need the memory data from the person we're downloading, but if
I wanted to download all the data from one brain, and upload it into another brain…
would that even be possible? Stephen Hawking thinks so, and futuruist Ray Kurzweil believes
we're only 40 years to away… So, what's blocking us from starting our first brain
backups?
Firstly, we'd have to read from the source brain, scientists will have to learn how we
store those memories. Neurons don't simply store one bit of information like in a computer.
Each neuron can create 1,000 connections with those around them, and unlike machines aren't
only on or off -- they have other states too. Luckily, humans are pretty obsessed with mind-reading.
Researchers at the University of California Berkeley scanned the brains of people while
they watched videos -- and using only the brain scans, a computer was able to determine
what the brains were processing. Using an fMRI scan to follow blood through the brain,
using three dimensional representations of the scanned areas called voxels, the researchers
trained the computer to piece together what the brain was looking at. Using tech like
this, scientists have scanned brains of players of Counterstrike, and see when they want to
turn left or right, but if their character is killed, emotional response overwhelms the
scan. Emotions are far too complex to read… yet.
Next, we'll have to write to the new brain. When WE do that, we're biochemically modifying
neurons and their connections to other neurons. There are trillions of these synaptic connections
in each person's head. A study in Nature explored exactly how this process works using mice
with cells that had been genetically modified to activate when hit with laser light -- this
is called called optogenetics. With this method, researchers were able to demonstrate how memories
are written, erased and reactivated, and then able to "implant" a false memory into another
genetically modified mouse! It's REALLY incredible, but we can't yet do this with any mouse off
the street… yet.
So let's assume we get to a point where we can read and write to brains; we need to copy
that information. But, the human brain isn't a finite storage system like a hard drive;
there could be a lot of space in there. Estimates vary from 2.5 petabytes -- about a million
gigabytes -- down to a few measly gigabytes. If you wanted to copy 2.5 petabytes over say,
a USB 3.0 connection, it would have to run continuously for more than 80 DAYS; and even
over Thunderbolt 3 it would take almost a week!
The biggest issue in consciousness transfer, is going to be mapping the brain accurately.
Computer scientists from giant companies, major universities, and world governments
have been working on mapping and translating the brain network to a computer network for
decades. But, thoughts don't live on a single neuron, nor are they processed in a single
place, but rather as a patterned network of brain cells picking up the information and
processing it. We're at the fundamental level of brain mapping already, we've got a while
to go until we can map all the connections and states of all our individual neurons in
real time, but just imagine where we'll be with a few more decades behind us, considering
where we are already... Billions of dollars are being spent on this, and according to
top minds in the field, it's only a matter of time until we learn to emulate a brain
in a computer, and map a consciousness on top of it.
Based on what we know now, maybe we aren't too far from a brain copying future... Self/Less
hits theaters on July 10th, and will star Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds. In this sci-fi
tale, an extremely wealthy man, dying from cancer, undergoes a radical medical procedure
that transfers his consciousness into the body of a healthy young man. But all is not
as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body's origin and the organization
that will kill to protect its cause.
If you could, would you extend your life with a consciousness transfer?