A company is trying to do what nobody has ever done before, create immortality. But no, this isn’t via potion, lotion or time travel commotion. No, this is via big data, and it’s messed up.
Humai is an AI company “with a mission to reinvent the afterlife”. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the use of the word ‘reinvent’, which humours me greatly.
Okay, to do this, Humai wants to get subscribers to its mission to download a bunch of apps that monitors their behaviour.
This will then, upon death, be logged into a robot or something, and subscribers’ cryogenically frozen brains will be lobbed in and hooked up. The result? Aunt Betty is back among us!
Josh Bocanegra, the CEO and founder of the company, said he wants to make death “optional”, with a belief his company can achieve its first resurrection “within 30 years”.
App-backed immortality
Speaking to Popular Science recently, Bocanegra explained that “extensive data” of subjects will be needed before their death, and he’s working on a bunch of apps to help rake this information up.
When the technology is fully developed, Humai will put the brain in an artificial body (I’m picturing that bug guy in Men in Black), with dead users’ thoughts and brain waves moving the body around.
“As the brain ages we’ll use nanotechnology to repair and improve cells. Cloning technology is going to help with this too,” he said.
It’s the detail. I always love the detail. How, though, will we know where the dead person ends, and the zombified new creation begin? According to Bocanegra, bionics, nanotechnology and AI.
The same, but better
“I think the body has limitations and I don’t believe the body was evolved with the best possible functions,” he says.
“I think an artificial body will contribute more to the human experience. It will extend the human experience. So much so, that those who accept death will probably change their mind.”
Zombie movies have gone through various ages. First there was the cumbersome, ‘Braaaains’ of old. Then they started learning a little, as George Romero’s Dead series evolved. Then 28 Days Later completely terrified us with its own take in the theme.
Next? Well, big data zombies, thirsty for Wi-Fi. This sounds like absolute madness. But so did Parcel Motel, and that’s a bang up idea now that I’ve seen it in action. So, maybe I’ll wait and see on this one.
Odd man image, via Shutterstock
