New startup aims to transfer people's consciousness into artificial bodies so they can live forever

[captaincranky]

Hey, this sound fascinating. Does anyone know when this sci-fi is going to hit the theaters?

Dude, It's been and gone......
"Caprica" (Sci-Fi Channel, cancelled)
"Transcendence" ( 2014 )
"Lawnmower Man" (wait for it..........1992)

What else? Help me out here.

Someone said, "there's a sucker born every minute". And surely, everyone who gives this operation a dime, should be granted knighthood in, "The Royal Order of Nincompoops".

What's really frightening here is, back when that saying made its first rounds, there probably was, "one born every minute". When you consider the birth rate then, as opposed to now, there's probably, "a sucker born about every two seconds"....

In fact the word, "tomorrow", contains all the letters necessary, (save for the "n"), to construct a word describing their likely mental acumen.

Light reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_sucker_born_every_minute

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104692/ (Lawnmower Man")

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799862/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 ("Caprica")

 

[JaingShi]

The problem with this Idea is that once dead your done. in order to bring back to life you must not loose your consciousness, if you do' then your just a clone.

 

[deemon]

Hey, this sound fascinating. Does anyone know when this sci-fi is going to hit the theaters?

Dude, It's been and gone......
"Caprica" (Sci-Fi Channel, cancelled)
"Transcendence" ( 2014 )
"Lawnmower Man" (wait for it..........1992)

What else? Help me out here.

Someone said, "there's a sucker born every minute". And surely, everyone who gives this operation a dime, should be granted knighthood in, "The Royal Order of Nincompoops".

What's really frightening here is, back when that saying made its first rounds, there probably was, "one born every minute". When you consider the birth rate then, as opposed to now, there's probably, "a sucker born about every two seconds"....

In fact the word, "tomorrow", contains all the letters necessary, (save for the "n"), to construct a word describing their likely mental acumen.

Light reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_sucker_born_every_minute

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104692/ (Lawnmower Man")

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799862/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 ("Caprica")

Ghost in the Shell anime entirely (since 1995; existed as manga since 1991)
Cybermen from Dr.Who
Chappy

and somewhat different but still the same essentially:
Krang from TMNT
Dalek from Dr.Who
Tron 1982 ... well there was mind upload and download. Same thing in Matrix later.

And stealing new bodies (organic, not mechanical though) to live forever plot has been around ... like forever.

 

[captaincranky]

....[ ]...And stealing new bodies (organic, not mechanical though) to live forever plot has been around ... like forever.

If you've seen, "Caprica" (*) though, it's spot on to this absurdity. The basic concept is, "girl's mind digitized and trapped in robot body, grows to hate humans and the Cylon race is born.

You have to appreciate the horror this girl experiences the first time she sees her, "new self", in a mirror. I can't picture it being any less of a shock, if you actually knew beforehand it was going to happen.

(*) Sadly, "Caprica" was cancelled in favor of much more intellectual movie content such as, "Sharknado"..(!, 2, & 3 ?)

 

[SimonThSorcerer]

I hope everyone reads the article and checks out the founder's website as well. This "startup" has been created by a 25 year old college dropout who likes gangsta rap (it's on his website) and comes from Bronx New York and he had a few failed, failing businesses before this one. Nuff' said. Anyone who invest money in this is an *****,. I like the idea though.

 

[captaincranky]

I hope everyone reads the article and checks out the founder's website as well. This "startup" has been created by a 25 year old college dropout who likes gangsta rap (it's on his website) and comes from Bronx New York and he had a few failed, failing businesses before this one. Nuff' said. Anyone who invest money in this is an *****,. I like the idea though.

I wasn't planning on visiting his site, on general principles alone. But, thanks for the heads up and warning. As far as I'm concerned, any website which plays "Gangsta Rap", should be tagged and blocked with a big red Google "Attack Site" placard.

I know of another organization who has been peddling the "eternal life scam" for over two millennia. Can you guess what it is?

 

[Emdaron]

Here we go again, man playing God. The sad thing is that some people will believe them and dump their hard earned cash on them not realising they're doing absolutely nothing but running a scam. Even if they weren't and it was possible, who wants to live forever anyway?

I do. This company may be a scam, but Google is investing billions in the same idea. Look up CaLiCo

 

[kareem]

I wish they could do this now, I'd get one just so it could go to work for me.

 

[dusanmal]

This reminds me of the past human failures to fully understand the term "consciousness" and to equate it with the current state-of-the-art technology. You can go back to Renaissance times and see human mind represented as mechanical system, than hydrological analog computer, than equating it with phone network, computer, now with computer network...
Yes, we are approaching full understanding of the "consciousness" step by step, but we are still so far. What this article claims will be as much a nonsense to future generations as it would have been for us to see our grandparents claiming to capture grandma's "consciousness" in a videotape of her left for us. Yes, such videotape would contain some information about grandma' ... but as tech' progresses it is clear that such tape is in no way shape or form her/her "consciousness", just a fleeting image captured of it.
We do not know enough about the "consciousness" and our existing tech' is puny to fully capture it.

 

[Kevin Hill]

You are gone after death

 

[captaincranky]

This reminds me of the past human failures to fully understand the term "consciousness" and to equate it with the current state-of-the-art technology. ...[ ].....

"Consciousness", is only a small part of "sentience", most of which I fear you'd miss peering out from a mechanical shell, no matter how many sensor arrays happen to be contained in, on, or around that shell.

 

[Uncle Al]

Well...A head transplant is planned sometime in the next few years, I kid you not, a real head removed from a diseased body will be attached to a healthy body whose head, obviously, suffered a fatal injury. Attaching nerve fibers to electronics is possible and with the experienced gained from near future head transplants, at least for the living, attaching heads to robots will be possible.

The big problem with this start ups idea is freezing the brain and so far companies that do this run into many problems. One of the complications is getting a certified medical person who can declare the individual dead in time, particularly if the person is being cared for at home. Another big problem is the freezing process requires chemicals to prevent damage to the cell brains. These chemicals take time to be absorbed and not all cells end up absorbing them.

And finally the biggest problem: If you where Einstein there would be a huge public interest in reviving him, but for the average Joe or Jane that would not be the case. Also consider that such frozen individuals brought back to life will lack the modern skills sets of the era they are awoken in, so whose responsibility is it to educate them? Not only that but a person declared as dead, with a death certificate, may not have the same rights as the living...Something to think about...

Head transplant was already successfully done a few years back with two monkeys. Now, getting the nerve fibers to knit back together so there is no paralysis will be the real accomplishment! Of course, in the case of Ted Williams, finding a donor body might be a challenge .....

 

[Twyzted]

Hey, this sound fascinating. Does anyone know when this sci-fi is going to hit the theaters?

Dude, It's been and gone......
"Caprica" (Sci-Fi Channel, cancelled)
"Transcendence" ( 2014 )
"Lawnmower Man" (wait for it..........1992)

What else? Help me out here.

Someone said, "there's a sucker born every minute". And surely, everyone who gives this operation a dime, should be granted knighthood in, "The Royal Order of Nincompoops".

What's really frightening here is, back when that saying made its first rounds, there probably was, "one born every minute". When you consider the birth rate then, as opposed to now, there's probably, "a sucker born about every two seconds"....

In fact the word, "tomorrow", contains all the letters necessary, (save for the "n"), to construct a word describing their likely mental acumen.

Light reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_sucker_born_every_minute

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104692/ (Lawnmower Man")

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799862/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 ("Caprica")

Don't forget about the movie Chappie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1823672/

 

[Twyzted]

I think this is interesting but, at the same time I don't think this will be possible for a long time. At least not to capture the full potential of the conscious mind. With the conscious mind there comes the senses of the human body that you just wouldn't get with a mechanical body. You wouldn't be able to cry, feel pain or sexual pleasure. Think of how eventually, we would find a way to make the machines we live in look like real humans. Then turn around and fall in love but, not be able to reproduce. With the human conscious there is instinct. And we all know we are made with the reproductive genes built in. There is no denying reason or escaping purpose. And this doesn't mean that you would necessarily live forever. What if you were to be powered down or dismantled? What if your Brain were to be smashed to bits?
If it was possible, how would it feel to have perfect recall of all your best and worst memories? I can say from experience, being able to recall every single bad thing that has happened, feels like a curse after so long. I'm 35 years old and I hate having an exceptional memory and being able to reflect on 99.999999% of all the trauma I have been through in my life. Having a brain with enough space to remember everything would be pretty cool, because you could learn everything you ever wanted to. From languages and music instruments, to art and science. People wouldn't need to breath air, giving new light to the ability to travel to different planets without the limits of the human physique.
Think about the movies, Transcendence, The Matrix, Chappie, The Lawnmower Man. Is this what we are moving towards? In a sense, I guess we are when you look at prosthetics and how some of them work. This may sound like something from a Sci-Fi movie or TV show, but in reality we are not really that far from accomplishing what we thought would be just a dream 20 years ago.
I must say that I agree with the fact that even if you were to transfer your conscious into a machine, your natural conscious would still die with the body it was created with. The copy would go on to experience the rest of it's existence in a totally different way than you normally would have.

 

[G Wagenkencht]

There would need to be a binding of classical and quantum "perception" *shift* which involves time dilation between objects or perceptions contact me for more information or a position. at highdef1101@gmail.com

 

[G Wagenkencht]

There would need to be a binding of classical and quantum "perception" *shift* which involves time dilation between objects or perceptions contact me for more information or a position. at highdef1101@gmail.com

to be clear I am looking for work

I have free copies of basic AI for people on my facebook wall.

 

[Josh T]

Here we go again, man playing God. The sad thing is that some people will believe them and dump their hard earned cash on them not realising they're doing absolutely nothing but running a scam. Even if they weren't and it was possible, who wants to live forever anyway?

Honestly, the "man playing God" argument is so cliche that your post deserves to be dismissed based on that alone.

Research into this has been germinating for many years. This represents a catharsis in our understanding of death. If immortality is attainable, then it is infinitely desirable, because it would mean that this narrative we've constructed over the history of our species that death is an "inevitability" has been nothing but a complete lie. Everyone who has ever died has done so pointlessly due to the whims of an uncaring and *****ic nature that is not able or willing to provide us with this by default. And even then, it still occurs in nature, as certain species of jellyfish are effectively immortal. What is more intriguing is what happens after this; what with resurrecting the dead, eventual mastery of quantum physics, and a comprehensive theory of consciousness and reality, we will have literally become God.

 

[Siew Chee Meng]

You do it in reverse. We awaken our innerself. Fixup a framework. Then we download the operating system. From then on we keep on building up the layers of data. The manual on how to do this have just been printed. Depends how hardworking you are, you get the new system working in about 1 year. Your brain will only serve as a former memory bank. You speak with infinite wisdom. Simply called your don't knows. We are nearing to the second person to succeed. The first one is out teacher. Once your innerself is awaken, it is your representative to go about the different dimensions. You don't want to use your brain anymore as it is very limited. Your innerself have no limits. You choose when to leave. You simply can't die. You just carry on. It is already happening here in Malaysia to about 70 of us. You become a superhuman. But so many just don't believe. They limit themselves to the word 'impossible'. We laugh at these people.

 

[ShadowDeath]

The question is Transfer or Copy? Can you truly transfer someone's consciousness into another medium or can you only copy the existing content? If you can only copy then the other medium will never actually be YOU. You will go on to eventually die while a artificial clone of your consciousness will live on.

 

[CosmicRhino]

You do it in reverse. We awaken our innerself. Fixup a framework. Then we download the operating system. From then on we keep on building up the layers of data. The manual on how to do this have just been printed. Depends how hardworking you are, you get the new system working in about 1 year. Your brain will only serve as a former memory bank. You speak with infinite wisdom. Simply called your don't knows. We are nearing to the second person to succeed. The first one is out teacher. Once your innerself is awaken, it is your representative to go about the different dimensions. You don't want to use your brain anymore as it is very limited. Your innerself have no limits. You choose when to leave. You simply can't die. You just carry on. It is already happening here in Malaysia to about 70 of us. You become a superhuman. But so many just don't believe. They limit themselves to the word 'impossible'. We laugh at these people.

What

 

[gollum21]

The human brain is always physically changing. This in itself is a part of our mind and conscious. Even if you could "transfer" or digitize one's conscious, it will only be what that person was thinking at that exact moment and not the entirety of what most of us call the conscious. They will not grow mentally, probably won't even experience anything even if they did had some type sensory input, and the digitized version will be nothing more than a flash copy of the real thing.

You would literally have to re-create all the IMMENSELY complex functions of the human brain, whether all of that can be digital or not. Otherwise, at best, they'll store nothing more than a shadow of the mind.

 

[gollum21]

To put this in perspective, people are still struggling to make a simple functioning cell on the molecular level (digitally simulated), that can actually behave like a real cell (such as consumption, reproduction, ect). They'll probably want to see where evolution (or the simulation in this case) takes thing to gain a better understand of life.

And this person wants to store the conscious? yea........

 

[AZNPCGamer]

I guess I'll jump on the negative nanny bandwagon. This is will never ever happen in the history of mankind ever.

 

[allllll]

Death is a part of life. We don't cease to exist... anyways I could go on but I know not everyone wants to hear what I would say.

YES we do cease to exist as u well know , as transformed to decomposed items , or perhaps ash, and gaseous amounts , as no mass ever gets missing, just transformed. STEWI you are jesting I suspect.

 

[bwana4swahili]

If the human race doesn't manage to go extinct, this process will happen at some point in the future. BUT I do believe the Russian undertaking has a better chance of success. At least they have a plan...