Curiously, the MIT Download which carried Hawking’s obit also ran the following story on “Netcome”… which adds an odd possibility that Hawking “almost” had a chance at being a part of. Who knows? Maybe he did participate since no one was ever really sure who was behind some of his pronouncements.
>From the start of the digital age – there has been informed speculation that a >variety of what can only be called “eternal life” could be the real goal of >AI, perhaps the most important goal in a way. An ideal techno-future would >provide a vehicle for the great biblical “motivator” and enforcer of conduct… >heaven on earth, so to speak. Presumably, this outcome (eternal continuity of an individual thought process) could become available in the next 10 years via the Qubit quantum computer, but taking advantage of that ability will be a curious issue. For Stephen, RIP, it would have been a no-brainer so to speak but we can already see the problems of a capitalistic approach. In the spirit of capitalism, it would become simply a matter of making the right financial arrangements. That is certainly almost the opposite of what religion espouses. Want your brain backed up? There's a huge catch. A startup says brains could be digitally copied, but its method is “100 percent fatal.” The pitch: Netcome has an embalming process that, it says, preserves brains for scanning and storage. But lethal chemicals must be injected while you're alive. Oddly popular: So far, 25 people have paid $10,000 to be on Netcome’s waiting list—including Sam Altman, the president of startup incubator Y Combinator. But: Can memories be found in dead tissue? Are our minds purely due to brain structure, or presence of fleeting molecules? And is living on digitally a good idea? Deeper dive: To find out more, read our feature on Nectome and its big claims. From: Charles https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/14/stephen-hawking-obituary
