Can We, Should We, Will We Live Forever Online
When typing for this
blog I have often wished I could just think my thoughts at the
computer and have them type out on the screen. This, no doubt, has
much to do with the fact I am a one finger hunt and peck typist
(having been streamed into drafting and electricity in grade nine
rather than typing and home economics).
But this got me
thinking bigger.
First some thoughts on
what makes us human. I have heard it said that what separates us from
the (other) animals is that we are aware of our existence. I think it
is probably somewhat more than that, extending to the fact that we
philosophize and question the meaning of life. Of course we do not
know what (other) animals are thinking but clearly thinking and
communicating are more important to us than simply the tasks
necessary for our physical existence.
On to the idea of
living forever. It seems the biggest obstacle to living forever is
that our bodies wear out, particularly our hearts and lungs that keep
oxygen and blood circulating. The other big factor is that the earth
could not sustain everyone living forever unless we stopped
reproducing.
But what if we did not
need most of our physical body and all those resources we live off
of. What if we only needed to keep our brains alive.
If the essence of being
human is thinking and communication, what if we only needed our
brains to do that.
What if we had a
brain-computer interface that would let us think our thoughts to our
computers and communicate with other humans, including living brains.
What then.
How much space and
resources would it take to just keep our brains alive after our
bodies died,
And what if we did not
even have to do that. What if we could transfer the essence of our
brains, our intellectual being and memories onto computer chips that
required virtually no storage space and only required a few
millivolts of energy to be sustained forever.
The big question is
would you want to live forever on the Internet watching mankind make
the same mistakes over and over forever and ever.
