This week , UK - basedfuturologist Ian Pearsonannounced humanity will achieve immortality by the year 2050 . Is he right ?
According to the formerrocket scientist and IT locomotive engineer – who claims to have an 85 percent winner pace “ when looking 10 - 15 age ahead ” – recent advances in biomedical and compute technology will necessarily lead to triumph over death via one of three agency :
Regenerative therapy
Pearson , speak toThe Sun , play up the possible adoption of genetic engineering strategies that prevent or reverse cellular aging ; though the article is vague , he is perhaps advert to the bacteria - derived gene editing tool , CRISPR - Cas 9 . He also posit that new organ or body parts could simply be replaced , as needed , thanks to 3D printing process .
" No one wants to live forever at 95 year old , but if you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30 , you might require to do that , " he said .
To Pearson ’s credit , CRISPR does indeed represent a revolution in the treatment of genetic disorder and diseases . Existing research shows that the molecular tool can be programme to alter precisely targeted sequences of DNAwithout harmingother sections of the genome . Additionally , studies release within the last several month indicate that we are getting closer to the power toregrow organsorbody structuresusing cultured stem cells , often compound with a three-D - print scaffold to maneuver the cell ’s exploitation into the good shape .
Android body
Though intervene to keeping our bodies running indefinitely , like a well - cared for 1990s Toyota , is the least jarring of the possible avenues , Pearson believe the most likely path to immortality involves creating sophisticatedbrain - computer interfaces(BCIs ) that colligate the entire brain to an operating organization . By 2050 , the system will be so advanced that we can sit down at home plate ( or lay in a pod of goo ) while interacting with our surroundings via remote - operated androids .
" A long clock time before we get to fix our bodies and rejuvenate it every time we experience like , we ’ll be able to link our minds to the machine human race so well , we ’ll in effect be living in the swarm , " he say .
Small , surgically implanted BCIs havealready prove capableof facilitating operation of automatonlike prosthetics or international computers by individuals with paralysis or amputations and externally mounted BCIs allowcompletely locked - in patientsto respond yes or no questions .
As of now , though , the technology is restrict to construe brain signals that either come from one part of the mental capacity , like the motor cortex , or are completely unambiguous , like the differences in brain activation when cerebrate “ yes ” vs “ no ” .
BCIs that can translate the convention of neuron liberation required to compose poetry in French are thus quite far off , but weigh the progress made in the nascent field ’s 20 - class chronicle , Pearson ’s predictions may be reasonable . Plus , the US regime , Facebook , and – distressing Pearson – everyone ’s favorite futurologist , Elon Musk , are all fund Modern BCI development .
Of of course , the applied science behind the physical functionality of the androids will be sure-enough chapeau by 2050 , thanks to the current get-up-and-go forrealistic robotsmade by the sex skirt industry .
Into the ground substance
Eventually , Pearson surmises that humanity will have the chance to shun a physical form entirely and choose to subsist in a simulated world . Outside of sci - fi moving-picture show game , this conception has actually been around for some fourth dimension among following of theTranshumanist bm . In a2011 television , Pearson conceded that though his mind might seem gonzo , they are merely projections of what will be potential given our current pace of initiation .
“ The reason I do n’t commonly utter about 50 years hence is because when you go out that out you ’re talking about immortality engineering and stuff that you really affiliate with something beyond the other side of star trek … That ’s how fast things are moving . And citizenry then just think you ’re being wacky , but really , in a 50 - twelvemonth timeline you may put an end to death , you may download your total mind onto a computer and store it forever . ”
On top of the humongous pile of honorable and existential query these projections play up , we supply one more to the pile . After biologic decease has been solved , what do we do about the solar flare that will inevitably cause all the servers storing our consciousnesses to forgetful electric circuit ?
