Many ideas that were once the staple of speculative fiction have come into existence. VR, robot companions, advanced AIs, self-driving cars — these are now realities. But what kind of technology is still a dream, and most importantly, your dream?
There was a time when I would have answered teleportation without pause. I have a lot of far-flung friends around the world, and plane tickets are damned expensive. Being able to beam across the country for dinner and be home for work is still a huge element of which my dreams are made of. I love to travel, and I often despair of getting to see many of the places on my bucket list.
The older I get, however — and the more the people around me age — the more I find myself longing for a process by which we could download human consciousness into a machine. While this seems the height of science fiction, there have been studies conducted on the viability of constructing an artificial brain, though we have a ways to go before the concept is more than a glimmer in many a futurists’ eye.
But that’s what I want: artificial brains capable of containing consciousness past death. What technology that seems a long way off, or even just the stuff of fiction, do you crave the most?