– Not happening. Yet.
Transcendence is the recently released sci-fi movie the plot of which involves uploading the mind of a scientist (played by Johnny Depp) to a computer system. You can watch the trailer here, and then you can head over to OUP Blog and watch a few brief videos of Nick Bostrom (Oxford) discussing the movie and the plausibility of uploading, whole brain emulation, and other approaches to artificial intelligence.
–Â Happening. OMG.
“‘We are suspending life, but we don’t like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction’…. The technique involves replacing all of a patient’s blood with a cold saline solution, which rapidly cools the body and stops almost all cellular activity.” Did you catch that? The technique involves replacing all of a patient’s blood with a cold saline solution. It is described in more detail at New Scientist. Philosopher and sociologist Steve Fuller (Warwick) is asked a few questions about the technique at the Institute of Art and Ideas news site, where he advocates for compulsory scientific service, a kind of conscription of research subjects.
