Ever since I read Tipler's wildly speculative book The Physics of Immortality http://amzn.to/MarYjA (affiliate link) I've been a fan of this line of reasoning.
Critics say it's all pseudo-science, and they're right. but pseudo-science is not necessarily a bad thing. There's really not much difference in some smart guy thinking through what might happen in 50 years and some other smart guy speculating on how man might have lived 120K years ago based on a couple of bones and an arrowhead. Educated creative speculation is fun. It's not physics, but it's fun.
Having said that, my money is on 300-500 years as the time frame for consciousness transfer and the beginning of the singularity. These are just really difficult problems, and it's always very tempting to project out some great breakthrough within your own lifespan. My money is on a lot of "little" breakthroughs in both biology and information technology that take us in ways we can't predict right now, but which converge in some sort of Omega Point immortality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point
Critics say it's all pseudo-science, and they're right. but pseudo-science is not necessarily a bad thing. There's really not much difference in some smart guy thinking through what might happen in 50 years and some other smart guy speculating on how man might have lived 120K years ago based on a couple of bones and an arrowhead. Educated creative speculation is fun. It's not physics, but it's fun.
Having said that, my money is on 300-500 years as the time frame for consciousness transfer and the beginning of the singularity. These are just really difficult problems, and it's always very tempting to project out some great breakthrough within your own lifespan. My money is on a lot of "little" breakthroughs in both biology and information technology that take us in ways we can't predict right now, but which converge in some sort of Omega Point immortality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point