Is immortality one click away? Computer scientist Ray Kurzweil’s conceit is that tech advances will enable it, if humans preserve their brains in software after their bodies have died.

Martine Rothblatt, PhD, founder of Sirius satellite radio and CEO of United Therapeutics, agrees with Kurzweil. “Offloading a mind to software is consistent with physics,” she told CNBC, and it may happen this century.

Rothblatt created a nonprofit where people can store their “mind files,” or records of their digital life. The idea is that when Kurzweil’s predictions come true, those memories will be there for use, Rothblatt said.

Kurzweil is a techno optimist, saying computers will achieve human level intelligence by 2029 and that the movie Her was realistic in its depiction of human and technological interaction. He predicts we’ll be able to reprogram our cells away from heart failure, cancer, and aging, among other disease. […]

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