Another way to use this technology in accordance with the Caveman Principle is to use it as an option, rather than a permanent way of life. One might want the option of plugging into this technology and then unplugging soon afterward. Scientists may want to boost their intelligence to solve a particularly tricky problem. But afterward, they will be able to take off their helmets or implants and go about their business. In this way, we are not caught looking like a space cadet to our friends. The point is that no one would force you to do any of this. We would want the option of enjoying the benefits of this technology without the downside of looking silly.
So in the centuries to come, it is likely our bodies will look very similar to the ones we possess today, except that they will be perfect and have enhanced powers. It is a relic of our apelike past that our consciousness is dominated by ancient desires and wishes.
But what about immortality? As we have seen, a reverse-engineered brain, with all the personality quirks of the original person, would eventually go mad if placed inside a computer. Furthermore, connecting this brain to external sensors so it could feel sensations from its environment would create a grotesque monstrosity. One partial solution to this problem is to connect the reverse-engineered brain to an exoskeleton. If the exoskeleton acts like a surrogate, then the reverse-engineered brain would be able to enjoy sensations such as touch and sight without looking grotesque. Eventually the exoskeleton would go wireless, so that it would act like a human but be controlled by a reverse-engineered brain “living” inside a computer.
This surrogate would have the best of both worlds. Being an exoskeleton, it would be perfect. It would possess superpowers. Since it would be wirelessly connected to a reverse-engineered brain inside a large computer, it would also be immortal. And lastly, since it would sense the environment and look appealingly like a real human, it would not have as many problems interacting with humans, many of whom will also have probably opted for this procedure. So the actual connectome would reside in a stationary supercomputer, although its consciousness would manifest itself in a perfect, mobile surrogate body.
All this would require a level of technology far beyond anything that is attainable today. However, given the rapid pace of scientific progress, this could become a reality by the end of the century.
GRADUAL TRANSFERENCE
Right now the process of reverse engineering involves transferring the information within the brain, neuron for neuron. The brain has to be cut up into thin slices, since MRI scans are not yet refined enough to identify the precise neural architecture of the living brain. So until that can be done, the obvious disadvantage of this approach is that you have to die before you can be reversed engineered. Since the brain degenerates rapidly after death, its preservation would have to take place immediately, which is very difficult to accomplish.
But there may be one way to attain immortality without having to die first. This idea was pioneered by Dr. Hans Moravec, former director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University. When I interviewed him, he told me that he envisions a time in the distant future when we will be able to reverse engineer the brain for a specific purpose: to transfer the mind into an immortal robotic body even while a person is still conscious. If we can reverse engineer every neuron of the brain, why not create a copy made of transistors, duplicating precisely the thought processes of the mind? In this way, you do not have to die in order to live forever. You can be conscious throughout the entire process.
He told me that this process would have to be done in steps. First, you lie on a stretcher, next to a robot lacking a brain. Next, a robotic surgeon extracts a few neurons from your brain, and then duplicates these neurons with some transistors located in the robot. Wires connect your brain to the transistors in the robot’s empty head. The neurons are then thrown away and replaced by the transistor circuit. Since your brain remains connected to these transistors via wires, it functions normally and you are fully conscious during this process. Then the super surgeon removes more and more neurons from your brain, each time duplicating these neurons with transistors in the robot. Midway through the operation, half of your brain is empty; the other half is connected by wires to a large collection of transistors inside the robot’s head. Eventually all the neurons in your brain have been removed, leaving a robot brain that is an exact duplicate of your original brain, neuron for neuron.
At the end of this process, however, you rise from the stretcher and find that your body is perfectly formed. You are handsome and beautiful beyond your dreams, with superhuman powers and abilities. As a perk, you are also immortal. You gaze back at your original mortal body, which is just an aging shell without a mind.
This technology, of course, is far ahead of our time. We cannot reverse engineer the human brain, let alone make a carbon copy made of transistors. (One of the main criticisms of this approach is that a transistorized brain may not fit inside the skull. In fact, given the size of electronic components, the transistorized brain may be the size of a huge supercomputer. In this sense, this proposal begins to resemble the previous one, in which the reverse-engineered brain is stored in a huge supercomputer, which in turn controls a surrogate. But the great advantage of this approach is that you don’t have to die; you’d be fully conscious during the process.)
One’s head spins contemplating these possibilities. All of them seem to be consistent with the laws of physics, but the technological barriers to achieving them are truly formidable. All these proposals for uploading consciousness into a computer require a technology that is far into the future.
But there is one last proposal for attaining immortality that does not require reverse engineering the brain at all. It requires simply a microscopic “nanobot” that can manipulate individual atoms. So why not live forever in your own natural body, but with a periodic “tune-up” that makes it immortal?
WHAT IS AGING?
This new approach incorporates the latest research into the aging process. Traditionally there has been no consensus among biologists about the source of the aging process. But within the last decade, a new theory has gained gradual acceptance and has unified many strands of research into aging. Basically, aging is the buildup of errors, at the genetic and cellular level. As cells get older, errors begin to build up in their DNA and cellular debris also starts to accumulate, which makes cells sluggish. As cells begin to slowly malfunction, skin begins to sag, bones become frail, hair falls out, and our immune system deteriorates. Eventually, we die.
But cells also have error-correcting mechanisms. Over time, however, even these error-correcting mechanisms begin to fail, and aging accelerates. The goal, therefore, is to strengthen the natural cell-repair mechanisms, which can be done via gene therapy and the creation of new enzymes. But there is also another way: using “nanobot” assemblers.
One of the linchpins of this futuristic technology is something called the “nanobot,” or an atomic machine, which patrols the bloodstream, zapping cancer cells, repairing the damage from the aging process, and keeping us forever young and healthy. Nature has already created some nanobots, in the form of immune cells that patrol the body in the blood. But these immune cells attack viruses and foreign bodies, not the aging process.
Immortality is within reach if these nanobots can reverse the ravages of the aging process at the molecular and cellular level. In this vision, nanobots are like immune cells, tiny police patrolling your bloodstream. They attack any cancer cells, neutralize viruses, and clean out the debris and mutations. Then the possibility of immortality would be within reach using our own bodies, not some robot or clone.
NANOBOTS—REAL OR FANTASY?
My own personal philosophy is that if something is consistent with the laws of physics, then it becomes an engineering and economics problem to build it. The engineering and economic hurdles may be formidable, of course, making it impractical for the present, but nonetheless it is still possible.
On the surface, the
nanobot is simple: an atomic machine with arms and clippers that grabs molecules, cuts them at specific points, and then splices them back together. By cutting and pasting various atoms, the nanobot can create almost any known molecule, like a magician pulling something out of a hat. It can also self-reproduce, so it is necessary to build only one nanobot. This nanobot will then take raw materials, digest them, and create millions of other nanobots. This could trigger a second Industrial Revolution, as the cost of building materials plummets. One day, perhaps every home will have its own personal molecular assembler, so you can have anything you want just by asking for it.
But the key question is: Are nanobots consistent with the laws of physics? Back in 2001, two visionaries practically came to blows over this crucial question. At stake was nothing less than a vision of the entire future of technology. On one side was the late Richard Smalley, a Nobel laureate in chemistry and skeptical of nanobots. On the other side was Eric Drexler, one of the founding fathers of nanotechnology. Their titanic, tit-for-tat battle played out in the pages of several scientific magazines from 2001 to 2003.
Smalley said that, at the atomic scale, new quantum forces emerge that make nanobots impossible. The error made by Drexler and others, he claimed, is that the nanobot, with its clippers and arms, cannot function at the atomic scale. There are novel forces (e.g., the Casimir force) that cause atoms to repel or attract one another. He called this the “sticky, fat fingers” problem, because the fingers of the nanobot are not like delicate, precise pliers and wrenches. Quantum forces get in the way, so it’s like trying to weld metals together while wearing gloves that are many inches thick. Furthermore, every time you try to weld two pieces of metal together, these pieces are either repelled or stick to you, so you can never grab one properly.
Drexler then fired back, stating that nanobots are not science fiction—they actually exist. Think of the ribosomes in our own body. They are essential in creating and molding DNA molecules. They can cut and splice DNA molecules at specific points, which makes possible the creation of new DNA strands.
But Smalley wasn’t satisfied, stating that ribosomes are not all-purpose machines that can cut and paste anything you want; they work specifically on DNA molecules. Moreover, ribosomes are organic chemicals that need enzymes to speed up the reaction, which occurs only in a watery environment. Transistors are made of silicon, not water, so these enzymes would never work, he concluded. Drexel, in turn, mentioned that catalysts can work even without water. This heated exchange went back and forth through several rounds. In the end, like two evenly matched prizefighters, both sides seemed exhausted. Drexler had to admit that the analogy to workers with cutters and blowtorches was too simplistic, that quantum forces do get in the way sometimes. But Smalley had to concede that he was unable to score a knockout blow. Nature had at least one way of evading the “sticky, fat fingers” problem, with ribosomes, and perhaps there might be other subtle, unforeseen ways as well.
Regardless of the details of this debate, Ray Kurzweil is convinced that these nanobots, whether or not they have fat, sticky fingers, will one day shape not just molecules, but society itself. He summarized his vision when he said, “I’m not planning to die.… I see it, ultimately, as an awakening of the whole universe. I think the whole universe right now is basically made up of dumb matter and energy and I think it will wake up. But if it becomes transformed into this sublimely intelligent matter and energy, I hope to be part of that.”
As fantastic as these speculations are, they are only a preface to the next leap in speculation. Perhaps one day the mind will not only be free of its material body, it will also be able to explore the universe as a being of pure energy. The idea that consciousness will one day be free to roam among the stars is the ultimate dream. As incredible as it may sound, this is well within the laws of physics.
13 THE MIND AS PURE ENERGY
The idea that one day consciousness may spread throughout the universe has been considered seriously by physicists. Sir Martin Rees, the Royal Astronomer of Great Britain, has written, “Wormholes, extra dimensions, and quantum computers open up speculative scenarios that could transform our entire universe eventually into a ‘living cosmos’!”
But will the mind one day be freed of its material body to explore the entire universe? This was the theme explored in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction tale “The Last Question.” (He would fondly recall that this was his favorite science-fiction short story of all the ones he had written.) In it, billions of years into the future, humans will have placed their physical bodies in pods on an obscure planet, freeing their minds to control pure energy throughout the galaxy. Instead of surrogates made of steel and silicon, these surrogates are pure energy beings that can effortlessly roam the distant reaches of space, past exploding stars, colliding galaxies, and other wonders of the universe. But no matter how powerful humanity has become, it is helpless as it witnesses the ultimate death of the universe itself in the Big Freeze. In desperation, humanity constructs a supercomputer to answer the final question: Can the death of the universe be reversed? The computer is so large and complex that it has to be placed in hyperspace. But the computer simply responds that there is insufficient information to give an answer.
Eons later, as the stars begin to turn dark, all life in the universe is about to die. But then the supercomputer finally discovers a way to reverse the death of the universe. It collects dead stars from across the universe, combines them into one gigantic cosmic ball, and ignites it. As the ball explodes, the supercomputer announces, “Let there be light!”
And there was light.
So humanity, once freed of the physical body, is capable of playing God and creating a new universe.
At first, Asimov’s fantastic tale of beings made of pure energy roaming across the universe sounds impossible. We are accustomed to thinking of beings made of flesh and blood, which are at the mercy of the laws of physics and biology, living and breathing on Earth, and bound by the gravity of our planet. The concept of conscious entities of energy, soaring across the galaxy, unimpeded by the limitations of material bodies, is a strange one.
Yet this dream of exploring the universe as beings of pure energy is well within the laws of physics. Think of the most familiar form of pure energy, a laser beam, which is capable of containing vast amounts of information. Today trillions of signals in the form of phone calls, data packages, videos, and e-mail messages are transmitted routinely by fiber-optic cables carrying laser beams. One day, perhaps sometime in the next century, we will be able to transmit the consciousness of our brains throughout the solar system by placing our entire connectomes onto powerful laser beams. A century beyond that, we may be able to send our connectome to the stars, riding on a light beam.
(This is possible because the wavelength of a laser beam is microscopic, i.e., measured in millionths of a meter. That means you can compress vast amounts of information on its wave pattern. Think of Morse code. The dots and dashes of Morse code can easily be superimposed on the wave pattern of a laser beam. Even more information can be transferred onto a beam of X-rays, which has a wavelength even smaller than an atom.)
One way to explore the galaxy, unbound by the messy restrictions of ordinary matter, is to place our connectomes onto laser beams directed at the moon, the planets, and even the stars. Given the crash program to find the pathways of the brain, the complete connectome of the human brain will be available late in this century, and a form of the connectome capable of being placed on a laser beam might be available in the next century.
The laser beam would contain all the information necessary to reassemble a conscious being. Although it may take years or even centuries for the laser beam to reach its destination, from the point of view of the person riding on the laser beam, the trip would be instantaneous. Our consciousness is essentially frozen on the laser beam as it soars through empty space, so the trip to the other side of the galaxy appears to take place in the blink of an eye.
/> In this way, we avoid all the unpleasant features of interplanetary and interstellar travel. First, there is no need to build colossal booster rockets. Instead, you simply press the “on” button of a laser. Second, there are no powerful g forces crushing your body as you accelerate into space. Instead, you are boosted instantly to the speed of light, since you are immaterial. Third, you don’t have to suffer the hazards of outer space, such as meteor impacts and deadly cosmic rays, since asteroids and radiation pass right through you harmlessly. Fourth, you don’t have to freeze your body or endure years of boredom as you lumber tediously inside a conventional rocket. Instead, you zip across space at the fastest velocity in the universe, frozen in time.
Once we reach our destination, there would have to be a receiving station to transfer the data of the laser beam onto a mainframe computer, which then brings the conscious being back to life. The code that was imprinted onto the laser beam now takes control of the computer and redirects its programming. The connectome directs the mainframe computer to begin simulating the future to attain its goals (i.e., it becomes conscious).
This conscious being inside the mainframe then sends signals wirelessly to a robotic surrogate body, which has been waiting for us at the destination. In this way, we suddenly “wake up” on a distant planet or star, as if the trip took place in the blink of an eye, inside the robotic body of our surrogate. All the complex computations take place in a large mainframe computer, which directs the movements of a surrogate to carry on with our business on a distant star. We are oblivious to the hazards of space travel, as if nothing had happened.