Will we someday be able to donate our consciousness like we would an organ? The mind is the one place where people can be truly alone. However, in the future you may be able to access the contents of a mind with the swipe of a library card or the download of a file. An article by io9 writer George Dvorsky had us thinking about the implications of brain preservation.
A number of groups, including the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and the Brain Preservation Foundation (BPF) are exploring ways of storing the brain in its entirety. The BPF is currently exploring plastination, which “involves chemical fixation and embedding of brain tissue in plastic for room temperature storage,” and cryonics, a method of storing brain tissue at low temperatures. Plastination is particularly interesting because once a brain has been copied it can be stored just about anywhere, including on the mantle at home (weird). The HCP “aims to provide an unparalleled compilation of neural data, an interface to graphically navigate this data and the opportunity to achieve never before realized conclusions about the living human brain.” A connectome is a comprehensive map of neural connections; basically, they’re mapping out the human brain much like the Human Genome Project did with our DNA.
With the human brain mapped, and preservation methods perfected, a human mind could be transferred from its fleshy medium to a computer or other storage medium. The vast amount of information stored in our brains could then be studied more thoroughly. The BPF even alludes to the possibility of reviving a person in a new form.
One exciting thought Serious Wonder has is whether we could create a library of memories. We may no longer need to debate about historical accuracy when an eyewitness account from centuries ago is one click away. We could explore the memories of the brilliant and influential, or of serial killers. The sheer amount of information that could be made available to the world is astounding.
Of course, there are negative implications as well. The mind is the first and last frontier, something thoroughly familiar to all of us, but also terrifyingly mysterious. I can’t say I would be the first in line to donate my mind to the cause. I’d have a hard time sleeping 6 feet under knowing that at any moment a historian could look up the memory of my first day of middle school.
Would you donate your brain to a “memory museum?” Do we really want to look into the details of each other’s minds? What are the moral implications?