Professor Stephen Hawking has predicted that it could be possible to preserve a mind as powerful as his on a computer – but not with technology existing today….
Prof Hawking was speaking after the premiere of a new biopic about his life, which he narrates himself, at the Cambridge Film Festival.
Asked about whether a person’s consciousness can live on after they die, he said: “I think the brain is like a programme in the mind, which is like a computer, so it’s theoretically possible to copy the brain onto a computer and so provide a form of life after death.
“However, this is way beyond out present capabilities. I think the conventional afterlife is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.”
Hawking, you’re late to the party. C.S. Lewis scooped you 50 years ago: [i]That Hideous Strength[/i]. Note the sponsors of the program, and the outcome.
Umm, no thanks, Dr Hawking. I think I’d much rather keep my brain where it is.