How Brains Could Be Copied To Computers

Could your brain keep on living even after your body
dies? Sounds like science fiction, but celebrated
theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking recently
suggested that technology could make it possible.
"I think the brain is like a program in the mind, which
is like a computer," Hawking said last week during an
appearance at the Cambridge Film Festival, The
Telegraph reported. "So it's theoretically possible to
copy the brain on to a computer and so provide a form
of life after death."
He acknowledged that such a feat lies "beyond our
present capabilities," adding that "the conventional
afterlife is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark."
Hawking, 71, made the remarks in conjunction with the
premiere of a new documentary about his life.
He has spoken previously about what he calls the "fairy
story" of heaven and the afterlife. Likening thehuman
brain to a computer whose components will fail, he
said, "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down
computers."
Some people are actively working to develop
technology that would permit the migration of brain
functions into a computer. Russian multi-millionaire
Dmitry Itskov, for one, hopes someday to upload the
contents of a brain into a lifelike robot body as part of
his 2045 Initiative, The New York Times reported
recently.
A separate research group, called the Brain Preservation
Foundation, is working to develop a process to preserve
the brain along with its memories, emotions and
consciousness. Called chemical fixation and plastic
embedding, the process involves converting the brain
into plastic, carving it up into tiny slices, and then
reconstructing its three-dimensional structure in a
computer.