Can Digital Copies of the Brain Be Made to Create "Living" Avatars?

Man never ceases his quest for immortality. Some people who hold little or no hope for the discovery of a miracle substance that would give eternal life to whoever took it, have turned their sights on technology. Most people who regularly use the Internet are quite familiar with what avatars are and how they're used as some form of informal cyber identification in "places" such as online forums and chat rooms. A closer look at the concept behind avatars, particularly as they relate to man's quest for eternal life, reveals that an avatar is also the embodiment, incarnation, manifestation or revelation of a deity who willfully descended to Earth from heaven. Most people, unless they're an atheist, imagine heaven as a place where all beings enjoy immortality. It's, therefore, no wonder that the concept of avatars would enter into the use of technology to literally make a digital copy of the brain of a person to perpetually preserve his personality and mentality--who he is, after his or her death.

The article, "Immortal Avatars: Back up Your Brain, Never Die" by Linda Geddes, records the comments on this subject of Nick Mayer of Lifenaut, a company in the United States investigating ways to produce avatars that are lifelike. His words were, "It really is a way of avoiding death." He is essentially saying that technology provides a way for a person to enjoy immortality. According to the article, the plan involves, but isn't limited to making a digital copy of the brain of an individual to forever capture his mind. He would also undergo personality tests and observation to learn how he handles himself in various situations and when dealing with family or friends. All of this information is needed to create his avatar that could be stored in a computer and accessed by family and friends after his death. It would be a way for him to enjoy eternal life with them after death.

There's also the quest to take this technology many steps forward. The digital copy of the brain of someone would be used to "give life" to a physical body made to look just like he did when alive. Could this be the driving reason for the development of lifelike androids? The brain plus the body would equal immortality of the person--or would it? "Reruns" and "playbacks" of a digital copy of the brain of a deceased person, even for which a lifelike artificial body has been prepared, could only satisfy surviving relatives who won't accept the death of their loved one. The person who passed on would have no more "immortality" than anyone else who has crossed over into the hereafter.

The article explains that the reasons for dedicating so much time and effort into the creation of avatars that are lifelike are due to the fact that those that are only a good resemblance of a real person are described as "creepy" by the public. It's difficult for some to imagine the thought of attempting to achieve eternal life with avatars because no living thing can be replaced even with another living thing that's very similar to it in appearance and personality. How many times have adults failed in their attempt to replace a child's dead pet with a living animal that looks and behaves almost just like the deceased one? Many amazing things have been achieved through technology, but true immortality will never be one of them because the biblical scripture of Psalm 89:48 says, "What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah."