Minus Quantum Mechanics- A Fun Theory on Immortality

Here is the theory: Given a powerful enough computer, one may be able to duplicate the algorithms of the brain and essentially create artificial human brains out of silicon. Assuming there is no transcendental soul, all we amount to are billions of atoms. Those atoms make up molecules, and those molecules then make up our brains. Our brains function as a result of billions of atomic algorithms. Put simply, if we duplicate those algorithms, we can duplicate a person’s brain.

Imagine plugging these algorithms into a computer, one should be able to put a copy of a person on a computer. On a computer, your thoughts and emotions will be free from a human body. There would be complete mind/body separation. You would exist in the buzz of a hard drive. Imagine further that you could be placed into a virtual world much like the matrix, or that you could construct a robot that was capable of moving in new and fascinating ways. Your body could be as strong and as unique as you’d like.

One question immediately surfaces: Does that mean I could live forever? The answer is maybe, but not if I was “copied.” A hypothetical illuminates this point. Much like the 2006 film “The Prestige,” where Hugh Jackman goes into the magic box and is copied, imagine that you enter into a magic copying box. Three, two, one, a flash and a copy of yourself stands right outside the box. He is an exact replica of every atom in your body at the moment the flash went off. You now stand outside the box starring at each other. Which one are YOU? YOU would be the original, right? You never went anywhere. A copy was made of you, but it wasn’t you. Applying this reasoning to my theory about downloading your atomic algorithms and you get the same outcome, computer you isn’t YOU.

However, immortality isn’t that far off. While “copying” would not do the trick, “integration” might. Integration would involve a medical procedure wherein your brain is slowly replaced piece by piece with the silicon parts that carry out the YOU algorithms. Imagine a procedure that could take place while one maintained consciousness, ensuring the stream of thought was uninterrupted and the YOU is still you. The procedure of integration may provide much more assurance that YOU would still be YOU, though now existing in a computer.

One last point. While you may actually die at some point if integration didn’t work, to those around you, a computer “copy” would suffice. Given sufficient technology, computer-you might find himself a nice squeezable human-like android to occupy. To your loved ones, you’d still be alive. Imagine the creation of “back-up yous.” There appears to be two types of death: your death, and your death in the eyes of others.

I highly recommend “Unready to Wear,” a short story by Kurt Vonnegut published in 1953. You can find it in Welcome to the Monkey House.