From Baltimore Spencer: Memories are Now Forever

Microsoft’s Gordon Bell has now converted his brain into digital-memory, or e-memory. The 75-year-old researcher carries around recorders to capture his conversations and all his experiences into 350 gigs of biological memory. It’s part of a project that Microsoft is working on called the SenseCam that a person would wear and automatically record every detail of every moment. One could imagine social networking could be elevated to a new level. I cannot help recall a movie from the early 1980s called BRAIN STORM about a device that not only records memories…but the feelings and sensations that the individual had during the experience.

The whole idea behind the technology brings up a slew of privacy issues and other ramifications. Would the police, for example, obtain a warrant for your memories? Could hackers get a wireless tap? Could you be spammed? Would reality tv shows go to a new level with willing contestants recording their bizarre experiences in order to win cash prizes?! Is the creation of our memories covered by the international laws of copyight? Can such a means of recording help Alzheimers’ patients?

Bell has said that by 2020, our entire individual history will be online and searchable.

Humanity once again enters brave new territories.

The world may seem upside down for some. For me, I wouldn’t have it any other way.