According to Ian Pearson, by the mid-21st century, computer technology will be so sophisticated that it might be possible to “download” the contents of a brain on to a supercomputer.

The prediction is merely the product of extrapolations drawn from the current rate at which computers are evolving. However, this technology might be expensive enough to remain the preserve of the rich for a decade or two more.

Pearson said the next computing goal would be to replicate consciousness. “Not everyone agrees, but it’s my conclusion that it’s possible to make a conscious computer with superhuman levels of intelligence before 2020,” he explains.

One of the “primary reasons” for such work would be to give computers emotions. This could involve such things as aeroplanes programmed to be more terrified of crashing than their passengers, meaning they would do whatever possible to stay airborne.

Pearson predicts an age of “virtual worlds” by about 2020. “We will spend a lot of time in virtual space, using high-quality, 3D, immersive, computer generated environments to socialise and do business in,” he said. “When technology gives you a life-size 3D image and the links to your nervous system allow you to shake hands, it’s like being in the other person’s office. It’s impossible to believe that won’t be the normal way of communicating.”

Via PhysOrg blog The Australian.