At the recent Global Future 2045 International Congress held in Moscow, 31-year-old media mogul Dmitry Itskov told attendees how he plans to create exactly that kind of immortality, first by creating a robot controlled by the human brain, then by actually transplanting a human brain into a humanoid robot, and then by replacing the surgical transplant with a method for simply uploading a person’s consciousness into a surrogate ‘bot. He thinks he can get beyond the first phase--to transplanting a working brain into a robot--in just ten years, putting him on course to achieve his ultimate goal--human consciousness completely disembodied and placed within a holographic host--within 30 years time.
Pushing aside all the extremely difficult technological challenges for a moment, there are a couple of important to considerations tied up in Itskov’s vision. First, while the later phases of his project are so far out as to seem ridiculous, phase one is totally feasible (in fact it’s already being done). From there, the leap to phase two--human brainpower transplanted into a mechanical robot--is a quite a leap. But if we are willing to allow that it might be possible even within the next 30 years, then we have to consider a further possibility: that many people alive today--like the twenty-something author of this piece--could be confronted with this kind of technology in their lifetimes.
It's a very interesting concept. But 30 years is a little ambitions, in my opinion. There are so many things we simply don't understand about the brain. I don't think we can even start to remove one and put it into another body, living or robotic, until we understand how it works. 30 years may be a little too soon.
ReplyDeleteI have been afraid to question what can be done since I have seen Dick Tracy's radio watch actually come about and then become an antique. Along with many other advancements.
ReplyDeleteOh, I hope you do not mind, I quoted you Blog again in mine.
Thanks.
...this is quite an interesting idea... I believe that we are but a shell, a spiritual consciousness in the shell of our bodies... perhaps this is ushering man to the next evolutionary step..!
ReplyDeleteFascinating. WHERE is he going to get a working brain?
ReplyDelete.....or what happens if the things goes haywire and turns on us?
ReplyDelete