Reincarnation… digital?
Science, for immortality?
A fact similar to science fiction, that of using technology to preserve human consciousness, is close to reality, demonstrating, once again, that innovation develops at a faster rate than ethical regulation and the discussion of its moral implications.
Since time immemorial, the human being has sought to understand and challenge mortality through various paths; say religion, magic, philosophy, or science. Our ancestors sought to leave a trace of their passage on Earth by painting in caves and building impressive monuments. Others tried leaving their memoirs or handwritten stories for future generations. Later on, those who were able to do so, commissioned amazing portraits in which they sought to convey the image with which they wanted to be remembered, however extravagant it might be.
After the invention of cameras, immortalizing the image of our loved ones — and ourselves — become more accessible to everyone. Hence, strange tendencies emerged, such as taking a “final photograph” of the corpse surrounded by members of his family. Audio and video recording allowed us to continue transmitting increasingly specific legacies into the future… until we reach 2021, living in a decade where the line between the possible and the impossible is increasingly blurred.
Consciously or unconsciously, we leave a mark on each of our actions in the digital environment. Each video, audio, post, or photograph that we share leaves a part of our way of being, thinking, and expressing forever recorded.
Since the first day of this year that begins, we have found news about the incredible technological advance that has accelerated thanks to global digitization and the democratization of the internet, an input so necessary today that it is debated whether having access to it will be considered a human right.
New advances, discoveries, and inventions emerge every day, each more impressive than the last. We are in a time when NASA announces that quantum teleportation is possible! As a result, it is not surprising that Microsoft has filed a patent with potential as alarming as it is fascinating: a kind of digital reincarnation in which, through new technologies, people can be “reconstructed” from their speech patterns. and behavior in the virtual world.
Although this patent is still limited in its specifications, it does mention the possibility of generating 2D and 3D models of specific people from the information registered about that person. Of course, the patent does not speak of specifically generating images of deceased persons, however, it is a considered possibility. In addition, each chatbot can be “trained” using machine-learning tools to make it look like reality in conversational and response characteristics. Sounds like material for a Hollywood movie, don’t you think?
In this way, our expressions, topics of interest, and physical appearance stored in “social” data could be immortalized in a chatbot that could keep us present on the web for many years after leaving this world. A fact similar to science fiction, that of using technology to preserve human consciousness, is close to reality, demonstrating, once again, that innovation develops at a faster rate than ethical regulation and the discussion of its moral implications.
This patent will not be the only approach that we will see in the coming years to transfer characteristics of a person to a digital entity, so it is a great time to start discussing whether it is something desirable for society. With more and more Internet users, we are facing a turning point; the decisions and turns that the use of technology makes in our present will affect future possibilities, both positively and negatively.
Futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil warned us a few years ago that by 2045 there could be a technology that allows immortality in human beings. At the time, it seemed simply an irrational statement, especially if we consider that the human body would not hold. Today, we see that it can be a reality if we understand immortality as the continuation of individual consciousness beyond death. However, it remains to be resolved whether it would be desirable to pursue it when we as a society have so much to resolve.
It is also important to consider that, given the levels of pollution on the planet, there is speculation about the viability of human life in the future. Will it do for our consciousness to exist forever on a computer while our home is dying and dying? It is time to concentrate collective efforts on guaranteeing a better quality of life for all, to seek to strengthen the conditions of the present, such as the global fight against pollution and famine in order to move forward as a species.
The future looms before us with unlimited potential from which technology can help us set the course, it is essential that we move forward with awareness and great human sense to ensure we reach a reality in which abundance and development are the keys. constant of all mankind.
EPPUR SI MUOVE
