Human beings have always strived to achieve immortality, real or symbolic; it is also one of the greatest challenges for science. 

Elon Musk is working on the possibility of transferring the human mind into a computer. This proposal consists of joining natural intelligence with artificial intelligence; making it possible to replicate data from the human mind to a computer. This project is known as cybernetic immortality. 

Ian Pearson raises the possibility that, by 2050, everyone born after 1970 will be able to recreate their minds in the digital world. That is, they will be able to store what they have in their minds on online servers and will be inserted into robots when they die. Therefore, there will be the possibility of being immortal inside androids. However, Pearson is concerned that technology giants such as Google, Facebook or Apple will be the ones in charge of the servers and bots. That is, they will somehow be the owners of those minds. 

Memory-Saving Projects 

Thanks to advances in technology, some projects are being developed to save the memory of loved ones. Here are some examples: 

• Dadbot. James Vlahos created Dadbot upon learning that his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and had a few months to live. It consists of an avatar that uses the phrases James recorded over three months. The avatar imitates his father’s personality and way of speaking and thus immortalizes his father’s memory. 
• Eternime. It is a project that takes the thoughts, stories and memories of any individual and turns them into an intelligent avatar to make them virtually immortal. Thanks to this, in the future, friends and relatives will be able to interact with that person’s memories as if they were still alive. 
• Muhammad Ahmad, a scientist and computer science researcher, is also working on a project that seeks to mimic the personality of deceased loved ones. By means of virtual presences that will be able to move alone in the houses by means of hundreds of cameras. Thanks to artificial intelligence, they will be able to adapt to the habits of family members. 

If you want to learn more about technology related topics, UNINI (Puerto Rico) offers the Master’s Degree in Strategic Management with a specialization in Information Technology. 

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Source: Digital immortality: how technology is changing the concept of death