Despite near-consensus that memory has a physical basis, neuroscientists are split on whether we might someday be able to extract memories from a preserved brain or upload them into a computer.
The allure and terror of transferring your consciousness to a computer has long been fodder for cyberpunk novels and billionaire-backed immortality startups. But a substantial chunk of neuroscientists think it might be possible to extract memories from a preserved brain and store those memories inside a computer, according to a new study.
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, suggests that most neuroscientists believe that memory has a physical basis and, on average, give a 40% probability that we might one day be able to emulate a human brain. But there was little consensus as to what exactly that physical basis is, highlighting just how little we know about what memories are made of.
The authors surveyed 312 neuroscientists—both memory experts and general neuroscientists—to get their thoughts on the feasibility of preserving a human brain and later extracting its memories. It was led by Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, a neuroscientist at Monash University in Australia and the author of The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death.
While the researchers wrote that the questions of memory extraction from preserved brains are “strange and speculative,” they provide insight into how neuroscientists think about memory formation.
