Backing Up Your Brain

couch_warrior writes "Microsoft is now working on a system that will back up the contents of your brain. The pilot project lacks a direct brain interface, but "MyLifeBits" will provide a simulacrum of actual memories. No mention is made as to whether Microsoft will claim to own the digital rights to the content of your life, or what license fees you will have to pay to access your own memories." Honestly this looks like a bunch of hooey to me, but I figured others would be better suited to say.

this is kind of like

[circletimessquare]

taking reservations for transatlantic flights in 1880

or selling land on the moon... wait a second!? [lunarregistry.com]

this microsoft brain dump is obviously hokum, but in all seriousness, our ever growing hard drive densities, and the ubiquity of cameras nowadays, means the day is not far off when a newborn will be born and given a tiny innocuous camera implant on the side of his head, and his entire life will be videotaped

this is appealing and horrifying on a number of different levels

and it is probably only 5-10 years off

*how*

[andreyvul]

are you supposed to back up your brain if there's no brain interface in the first place?

My Father Passed Away 3 Years Ago....

[quangdog]

So, my father held a PhD in Chemical Engineering from CalTech, and had a wonderful life full of rich experiences. He passed away 3 years ago, and in the subsequent time since then, I have come to realize I really didn't know my dad. He did leave a lot of information behind (life story, records of important events, etc), but (while this article is a dupe, and MS isn't getting anywhere near my noggin, etc) the idea of being able to crawl through the data / memories in his brain is admittedly very appealing.

There are huge moral implications to consider here though - what portions of a brain are private/public, can you retrieve (or should we even try) data from folks who have passed on, etc..

I for one am intrigued by the idea.

--Kimball
http://www.kimballlarsen.com/ [kimballlarsen.com]