This is something I personal find fascinating; the idea that we could potential live indefinitely. Up until a few years ago this was a subject that I thought very little about. Although while conversing with a close friend of mind on a similar subject, second lives, he opened me up to a very interesting view on the matter.
This friend of mine is a bit on the spiritual side and a very strongly believe we all have past lives. He argues that we all have the ability to be conscious of these past lives and that experience such as deja-vu are far from coincidences. He believes that our memories and our thoughts are transmitted into some manner of universal stream of data working in a very similar manner to that of wireless communication networks. He believes this data is around us constantly, being the main cause of anomalies such as interference on radios or similar communication devices. And, when new people are born this data is transmitted unto the infant brain.
Sounds very crazy and very far fetched. I argue with him how does this data from our memories become transmitted and where are you basing your argument for the existence of this so-called 'universal data stream' that apparently holds all the collective memories of every person who ever lived. And, why does that data become so degraded to the point that when it is reinstated into the brain of an infant the person can only remember things like a smell or a certain building or place? and why they can't remember everything about themselves as if they simply went to bed on Monday and woke up again on Tuesday?
Then I read a very interesting science article on the study of our brains. The main goal of the study was to better understand the processes our brain goes through while conversing, thinking and storing memories. In all, the study showed that our brains act differently and send different signals when conversing and when thinking; the processes for conversing being more active as the brain needs to process its thoughts into words and collect the data from the ears and process that to understand what is going on. However, the most interesting thing about the study is what it showed was going on when we sleep. When we sleep our brains fire signals as if it was transmitting data; a process closely mimicking the processes our brains undergo when conversing. Where is it transmitting this data?
The study does not detail what is actually happening during these processes as it is not fully understood. The widely accepted belief is that this is indicating that our brain is taking the data it has stored in its collective or short term memory banks and is filing it away in the deeper recesses of the brain's long term memory. Although there have been other studies done to figure out this very same function. We understand how the brain 'normally' stores memories however this studies findings showed the brain working in a different manner; as if conversing and not storing. Of course we cannot make any true dictations as to what the brain is doing in this function but it does raise curiosity: are we transmitting data as we sleep to an external hub?
I am not backing my friend's theory of a 'universal data stream' however I raise the question as to can we potentially capture this supposedly transmitted data? If so, just think of what great scientific advancements and possibilities lay in wait... If we could capture this data and store it one some sort of device we could potentially 'download' for lack of a better word, this data onto a newborn; or better yet a toddler or 2 to 3 years old. Just imagine; at the young developmental age when a child is just beginning to understand speech you implement the stored memories of an already developed brain. Of course this leads to a whole world of political and ethical issues as to whether or not implementing a person with another person's thoughts is moral.
Thus, perhaps, if in the far future we have advanced to the point of creating hybrid human-like cyborgs, this would be much more a possibility.
Thoughts? I am very interested.
Cheers,