Many see the conquest of death as humanity’s ultimate challenge, while others believe we should step away from that idea and accept our natural fate. Whichever side we take, science has been exploring alternatives such as digital immortality. That brings us back to Bina48, which is shaping up as a receptacle for the mental clones of the future.
Immortality. A recurring element in science fiction, the final reward for the pure and honorable, the eternal desire of conquerors and emperors. Promise, nightmare… the list goes on. If we look for examples of biological immortality, most arrows point to the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii, hydras, certain bacteria and cancer cells. Replicating that biological immortality in the human body is the major goal of much research, but there is another alternative: digital or technological immortality. If our consciousness could be transferred without loss to an artificial body leaving our organic shell behind, the maintenance of that body could be sustained indefinitely (or at least until the universe ends). But there has also been talk of mental clones—backups of ourselves on a robotic platform. Are we still “us”, or is it just a simple copy?
Martine Rothblatt and Bina48
Martine Rothblatt has been asking this question for the past few years with the development of her humanoid robot Bina48. If the name rings a bell, it’s because we met her in July 2010. Bina48 was created from Rothblatt’s wife, Bina, and has since evolved to incorporate more and more aspects of the personality and capabilities of the real Bina, including voice recognition of her friends and family. Judging by the way she expresses herself, one could say Rothblatt has managed to reproduce some of Bina’s feelings in Bina48. Rothblatt added that mental clones would be humanity’s greatest invention, with unlimited market potential. Basically, she placed owning a mental clone on par with a smartphone or a social media account, and stressed that we’ll have twice the time to do anything.
Martine Rothblatt is the highest-paid female CEO in the United States. She co-founded Sirius Satellite Radio, created the PPH Cure Foundation to treat her daughter’s pulmonary hypertension, and later founded United Therapeutics. She holds a doctorate in medical ethics and is also a lawyer, so we’re likely looking at a true genius. Now, will she actually manage to develop mental clones? According to Rothblatt herself, we are ten to twenty years away from the goal. She also adds that she isn’t trying to break the laws of physics here, but rather to write complex code of superior quality. The other question on the horizon is whether we are more than the content and structure of a code…
