If given a chance, would you like to live forever?
This question reminds me of a short story by Arthur C. Clarke.
I don’t remember the name of the story, but in it, an immortal man roams around the earth
He is the last man standing, in what appears to be a post apocalyptic wasteland.
He walks to faraway barren lands in search of another life.
Finally` he finds a small green plant sprouting in the midst of dry rocks.
He breaks down.
For some reason, I am still haunted by that story.
Maybe it reminds me of my own mortality or is it just coming to terms with the inherent
loneliness of my existence?
Many scientific studies from around the world shows that most people would rather have something
to do, than to have nothing other than their thoughts, for even a fairly brief period of time
Some people choose pain over boredom.
That leads to another question, ‘What if the things that we are passionate about, things
that we find interesting, only seem important because of our own mortality.
There is a clock ticking.
Time is running out.
So we quickly do the things, about which we are passionate.
What if there is no clock?
You have all the time in the world?
Would you still be passionate?
How long would you continue to live before you succumb to the boredom of existence?
‘2045 Initiative’ is an organization that’s founded by the Russian entrepreneur Dmitry
Itskov in participation with several other Russian specialists in the field of Robotics,
Neural Interfaces, Artificial organs and systems.
The primary goal of this organization is “to create technologies enabling the transfer
of an individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending
life, including to the point of immortality.”
According to its official website, the organization even has a roadmap to achieve their cyber
immortality goals.
Between 2015 to 2020, they plan to develop and to implement widespread use of something
called ‘Avatars’, a cyborg that is controlled by the ‘brain computer’ interface.
The proposed use is the ability to work in dangerous environments or to be of help in
extreme rescue operations and travel.
Between 2020 to 2025, they plan to create an autonomous life support system for the
human brain that’s linked to a robot or as they call it ‘avatar’.
What it does is to provide patients with completely irreversible, worn out body but with a perfectly
intact brain access to a fully functional bodily life by connecting your fully functioning
brain to a perfectly synchronized avatar, robotic body.
Between 2030 to 2035, and, here’s where things get tricky.
In this time span, their plan is to create a digital model of the human brain and consciousness
with the subsequent development of means to transfer human consciousness onto an artificial carrier
This hypothetical process is not something new; the theory has been around for a long time
It is called Whole Brain Emulation.
The process would involve scanning mental state, including all the long-term memories
and even the ‘self’ and copying it to a computer.
The computer could then run a simulation model of the brain's information processing, such
that it responds in essentially the same way as the original brain, meaning indistinguishable
from the brain and thus, it experiences having a conscious mind.
This is essentially what 2045 Initiative aims to do.
Once this is successfully done, humans are free from their bodies, from dying; you could,
in theory keep copying your self to different systems, to different avatar models.
So death will become a choice and maybe, you can be resurrected at any time you want.
This unlocks a world of opportunity for humanity from deep-sea exploration to space travel
across the universe; anything is possible.
At least, that’s the idea.
But, this idea paves way for an incredible number of questions that are deeply rooted
in philosophy and spirituality.
For example: If you copy a person’s brain pattern and upload it to a digital system,
is the new avatar the same person as before.
Yes, it has all the long-term memories of the original and all the emotions, but is
it the same?
Isn’t it just a digital doppelganger of the original, a mere clone?
When you copy the brain pattern and the informational system, how can one be sure that the sense
of self or the consciousness transfers to the digital system?
Actually, we still don’t know what consciousness is?
Where does the sense of self, the ‘I’, the ego comes from?
How can you copy something that has been so elusive?
Again, this is not something new.
For hundreds of years, authors and scientists have been wondering about this very same conundrum.
In fact, in 1775, a Scottish philosopher called Thomas Reid said this,
“I would be glad to know... whether when my brain has lost its original structure,
and when some hundred years after the same materials are fabricated so curiously as to
become an intelligent being, whether, I say that being will be me; or, if, two or three
such beings should be formed out of my brain; whether they will all be me, and consequently
one and the same intelligent being.”
But we are also not in a position to dismiss this initiative as just another wishful science
fiction project.
Transhumanism is an international intellectual movement that aims to transform the human
condition by developing and producing widely available technologies to greatly enhance
human intellect and psychology.
Projects such as 2045 Initiative comes under Transhumanism.
Snippets of Transhumanist ideas could even be found in the works of several early philosophers.
But lately, we’ve seen a tremendous growth in this movement from around the world, thanks
to the rise of automation and artificial intelligence.
The progress is real.
Several conferences are conducted every year around the world to contribute to the eventual
merge of Humanity and Technology.
Initiatives such as Neuralink, Elon Musk’s new venture that attempts to create an ultra
high bandwidth brain machine interface, 2045 Initiative, the work that’s been done by
robotic specialists at Boston Dynamics, proves that digital immortality is no longer a science
fiction scenario.
That brings me to another question.
Are we ready for this?
Because I am discussing Whole Brain Emulation and Transhumanism from a planet where racism
is still a problem.
Religious violence, terrorism, borders, even honor killings and female infanticide, where
a newborn baby is deliberately killed, just because it is a ‘she’, are still relevant issues
We still need imaginary lines that prevent us from freely travelling across the planet.
Unfortunately, we are still primitive.
It doesn’t matter that few people are ready to overlook all the differences
and work towards progress.
My personal opinion is that it only works if everyone is on board.
We all go, or no one goes.
That has always been the case.
Violence has no place in humanity’s evolution.
I am not saying this from an emotional standpoint.
Logically, scientifically, it doesn’t make sense.
It hinders progress.
But, when you turn on any news channel, it is clear that most of us are still busy with
consuming war stories, turning on each other, fearing the next person, and burning incredible
beautiful civilizations to the ground.
For every 10 years of advancement, it seems like we are undoing a hundred years of progress.
At our current state, we are not ready for this.
But, we should be, because it is going to happen with or without us.
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So, what are your thoughts on digital immortality?
Leave a comment below and we can discuss it further.
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Thank you for watching.