upload it into a brain inside the body of Ryan Reynolds so I could have lots of cool

fun. Is that possible? Asking for a friend.

Hey brainiacs, Trace here for DNews! Over the centuries, we've compared our brain to

clocks, telephone switchboards, and now (of course) computers; but really the brain is

none of these things. It's its own thing. In the upcoming movie Self/Less, a dying man

uses crazy cool technology to transfer his consciousness into a younger man's body. One

would assume each brain has similar programming for how to run a heart, manage an immune system

and so on -- so we just need the memory data from the person we're downloading, but if

I wanted to download all the data from one brain, and upload it into another brain…

would that even be possible? Stephen Hawking thinks so, and futuruist Ray Kurzweil believes

we're only 40 years to away… So, what's blocking us from starting our first brain

backups?

Firstly, we'd have to read from the source brain, scientists will have to learn how we

store those memories. Neurons don't simply store one bit of information like in a computer.

Each neuron can create 1,000 connections with those around them, and unlike machines aren't

only on or off -- they have other states too. Luckily, humans are pretty obsessed with mind-reading.

Researchers at the University of California Berkeley scanned the brains of people while

they watched videos -- and using only the brain scans, a computer was able to determine

what those brains were looking at. Using an fMRI scan to follow blood through the brain,

using three dimensional representations of the scanned areas called voxels, the researchers

trained the computer to piece together what the brain was looking at. Using tech like

this, scientists have scanned brains of players of Counterstrike, and see when they want to

turn left or right, but if their character is killed, emotional response overwhelms the

scan. Emotions are far too complex to read… yet.

Next, we'll have to write to the new brain. When WE do that, we're biochemically modifying

neurons and their connections to other neurons. There are trillions of these synaptic connections

in each person's head. A study in Nature explored exactly how this process works using mice

with cells that had been genetically modified to activate when hit with laser light -- this

is called called optogenetics. With this method, researchers were able to demonstrate how memories

are written, erased and reactivated, and then able to "implant" a false memory into another

genetically modified mouse! It's REALLY incredible, but we can't yet do this with any mouse off

the street… yet.

So let's assume we get to a point where we can read and write to brains; we need to copy

that information. But, the human brain isn't a finite storage system like a hard drive;

there could be a lot of space in there. Estimates vary from 2.5 petabytes -- about a million

gigabytes -- down to a few measly gigabytes. If you wanted to copy 2.5 petabytes over say,

a USB 3.0 connection, it would have to run continuously for more than 80 DAYS; and even

over Thunderbolt 3 it would take almost a week!

The biggest issue in consciousness transfer, is going to be mapping the brain accurately.

Computer scientists from giant companies, major universities, and world governments

have been working on mapping and translating the brain network to a computer network for

decades. But, thoughts don't live on a single neuron, nor are they processed in a single

place, but rather as a patterned network of brain cells picking up the information and

processing it. We're at the fundamental level of brain mapping already, we've got a while

to go until we can map all the connections and states of all our individual neurons in

real time, but just imagine where we'll be with a few more decades behind us, considering

where we are already... Billions of dollars are being spent on this, and according to

top minds in the field, it's only a matter of time until we learn to emulate a brain

in a computer, and map a consciousness on top of it.

Based on what we know now, maybe we aren't too far from a brain copying future... Self/Less

hits theaters on July 10th, and will star Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds. In this sci-fi

tale, an extremely wealthy man, dying from cancer, undergoes a radical medical procedure

that transfers his consciousness into the body of a healthy young man. But all is not

as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body's origin and the organization

that will kill to protect its cause.

If you could, would you extend your life with a consciousness transfer?