'Soul Catcher' Computer Chip Due...
Source: The Electronic Telegraph (England)
The End of Death: 'Soul Catcher' Computer Chip
Due...
A computer chip implanted behind the eye that could
record a person's every lifetime thought and sensation is to be
developed by British scientists.
"This is the end of death," said Dr. Chris Winter, of
British Telecom's artificial life team. He predicted that
within three decades it would be possible to relive other people's
lives by playing back their experiences on a computer. "By combining
this information with a record of the person's genes, we could
recreate a person physically, emotionally and spiritually."
Dr. Winter's team of eight scientists at BT's Martlesham
Heath Laboratories near Ipswich calls the chip the 'Soul Catcher.' It
would be possible to imbue a new-born baby with a lifetime's
experiences by giving him or her the Soul Catcher chip of a dead
person, Dr. Winter said. The proposal to digitize existence is based
on a solid calculation of how much data the brain copes with over a
lifetime.
Ian Pearson , BT's official futurologist, has measured
the flow of impulses from the optical nerve and nerves in the skin,
tongue, ear, and nose. Over an eighty year life, we
process 10 terrabytes of data, equivalent to the storage capacity of
7,142,857,142,860,000 floppy disks.
Dr. Pearson said, "If current trends in the
miniaturization of computer memory continues at the rate of the past
20 years - a factor of 100 every decade - today's 8-megabyte
memory chip norm will be able to store 10 terrabytes in 30 years."
British Telecom would not divulge how much money it is
investing in the project, but Dr. Winter said it was taking
'Soul Catcher 2025' very seriously. He admitted that there were
profound ethical considerations, but emphasized that BT was embarking
on this line of research to enable it to remain at the forefront of
communications technology.
"An implanted chip would be like an aircraft's black box
and would enhance communications beyond current concepts," he said.
"For example, police would be able to use it to relive an attack,
rape, or murder from the victim's viewpoint to help catch the
criminal."
Other applications would be less useful but more
frightening. "I could even play back the smells, sounds, and sights of
my holiday to my friends," Dr. Winter said.
(From CNI News)
By Robert Uhlig