With the idea of making humans immortal by uploading brains to robots, Elon Musk affirmed: “It is possible”.
Billionaire Elon Musk says many things that seem impossible. For example, the CEO of Tesla believes that humans can eventually live forever by loading their brains into robots.
Elon Musk told Insider: “I think it’s possible. Yes, we could download the things that we believe make ourselves so unique. Now, of course, if you’re not in that body anymore, that is definitely going to be a difference, but as far as preserving our memories, our personality, I think we could do that.”
Such technology will evolve, in Musk’s words, from today’s computer memory. He said that people’s memories are stored in phones and computers through pictures and videos. Computers and phones expand our ability to communicate, allowing us to do things we thought were magical. With computers, humans have expanded their brains.
The idea of extending human lifespan by loading consciousness into robots has long appeared in science fiction movies. Some experts today believe that “memory loading” technology may one day be possible. But when that will be done is still very vague.
In a 2019 Wall Street Journal essay, Michael SA Graziano, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton University, wrote that loading the brain would require two technologies.
The first is to create an artificial brain. The second is technology that scans real human brains to accurately replicate neurons without affecting the person. Nor would he be surprised if this technology takes hundreds of years to develop.
Neuralink, one of Elon Musk’s projects, is being worked on to develop a “brain-machine interface” in the words of the billionaire. One day, humans may be able to store memories as a backup and restore memories. But Elon Musk also stressed the company’s current goals are much more realistic.
The CEO of SpaceX said: “Neuralink in the short term is just about solving brain injuries, spinal injuries and that kind of thing. So for many years, Neuralink’s products will just be helpful to someone who has lost the use of their arms or legs or has just a traumatic brain injury of some kind.”
It is worth noting that it seems that Elon Musk himself does not want to be immortal. He said: “I don’t think we should try to have people live for a really long time. That would cause asphyxiation of society because the truth is, most people don’t change their mind. They just die. So if they don’t die, we will be stuck with old ideas and society wouldn’t advance.”
