Possible alternative to cryogenics?

[Branjoman]

This idea actually started from a minecraft mod called Applied Energistics. In it is a concept called 'Spatial IO' wherein you basically capture space and stuff it into a hard drive. One funny thing you can do is capture a person who happens to be inside the spatial cage. This got me wondering...if you had a hard drive or solid state drive large enough, could you suspend a human being in it? Would they survive at all?

[Dkmdlb]

No you could not, and no they would not survive.

[Newt]

Are you meaning, converting a person to some digital state and reproducing them after some time? That seems possible, but very science fiction at this time (not that cryosleep is not still, too).

If you are meaning more literally how the Minecraft mod seems to do it, then, no. Not with just a hardrive. You would need some very fantastic tools to do it in the first place. I disagree that they would not survive, though. More likely you would push the button (or whatever), and they would be unaffected.

[jerdrb]

Here's a rebuttal question for you. If we clone you, is the clone actually you? Yes it is exactly your dna, and if we save the brain synapsis and all the signals at that instant it may you. But does the you that is typing on your computer to write the original quest actually exist as that clone? No. At the instant you make that clone, it is someone different. Identically at the very instant made, but changing based on experiences that are different from you, since it is not in the same location. So "saving" someone onto a hard drive might be feasible as soon as we clone someone and are able to make completely synthesized human DNA. But never will you be able to save the me that is typing this message, and have me come back from a drive.

[Ralathon]

Translation: "If we had magic, could we do magic?"

Storing matter in a hard drive doesn't even make sense. That's not how they work.

[ZetaX]

Translation: "If we had magic, could we do magic?"

Storing matter in a hard drive doesn't even make sense. That's not how they work.

Well, you could maybe store quantum states and everything, and just "reapply" it to matter later. Still sounds not like a tech that will ever have a use, but might theoretically be possible. It's actually close to Star Trek's beaming (which also can be used as storage in-series).

[lajoswinkler]

Change your title to cryonics cause this is not cryogenics.

[fairytalefox]

If we clone you, is the clone actually you?

Years ago I read a book in which a protagonist answers exactly this question, and I like his answer very much.

The answer was: "Yes, he is me, but I'm not him".

[Bill Phil]

Here's a rebuttal question for you. If we clone you, is the clone actually you?

Here is another question:

Are you the same you from 5 years ago?

All of your atoms except a few have been replaced since then. You have had new experiences. You have matured. Is your older self you?

If yes, then a clone is you as well. Because your atoms get exchanged throughout your lifetime, and as such a clone having different atoms of the same elements doesn't make him "not you." However, when his experiences start to differ with yours, then he is no longer you.

To answer the OP:

This is a bit Fi-Sci (Fictional Science) at this point in time... While interesting, it's just not as practical as incited hibernation or cryonics.

- - - Updated - - -

Translation: "If we had magic, could we do magic?"

Storing matter in a hard drive doesn't even make sense. That's not how they work.

Ah, but any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.

[lajoswinkler]

Here's a rebuttal question for you. If we clone you, is the clone actually you? Yes it is exactly your dna, and if we save the brain synapsis and all the signals at that instant it may you. But does the you that is typing on your computer to write the original quest actually exist as that clone? No. At the instant you make that clone, it is someone different. Identically at the very instant made, but changing based on experiences that are different from you, since it is not in the same location. So "saving" someone onto a hard drive might be feasible as soon as we clone someone and are able to make completely synthesized human DNA. But never will you be able to save the me that is typing this message, and have me come back from a drive.

That's not how cloning works. What you're describing is a replication from Star Trek.

Cloning produces a zygote. You don't get an adult human being. And no, it's not the same person. It's a new special person with some similar mental potentials, that's it.

[Bill Phil]

That's not how cloning works. What you're describing is a replication from Star Trek.

Cloning produces a zygote. You don't get an adult human being. And no, it's not the same person. It's a new special person with some similar mental potentials, that's it.

Well...

You could grow the clone in similar conditions that you were, and then "imprint" your mind onto it. Kind of like that Schwarzenegger movie...