Imagine if we could preserve our consciousness as we would back up a hard drive, and access it in a similar fashion. Is this even feasible, and what would the implications be for learning and acquiring information?

The human brain is often compared to a computer, and although the analogy is nowhere near as close as the comparison would have us believe, the functions it performs are very similar. Even though they employ very dissimilar mechanisms and processes, their function is the same: the retrieval, management and storage of information. The medium of storage and the method thereof is also the same – both work my managing electrical impulses.

The point is that the process and the science of what is happening can be quantified, and understood, although at this point our understanding is incomplete, and our methods of interaction insufficient. But there is no escaping the very real possibility that one day we will be able to translate memory and knowledge to a mechanical or electronic medium.

We can see the beginnings of this trend in devices built currently to help disabled people. Equipment has been tested successfully that transmits information from a camera into the part of the brain responsible for sight to help blind people. And there are many experiments constantly being run showing people controlling devices using electrical impulses generated by the brain. Although the technology is primitive, we can see the beginnings of what could be – the interaction between machine and mind.

The bridge will only become stronger as our understanding of human physiology and computer science becomes greater, which of course is inevitable. There will come a time when the option exists for us not only to back up our memories, but possibly our consciousness as well.

But why stop there? We may well decide that the latest multi-petabyte hard drive does an even better job than our own brain does. When that time comes, we may see people upgrading their own bodies in order to more effectively store and retrieve information.

Such adventurous types who would opt for such radical augmentations might try taking things a step further. Such a brain would have the possibility of interacting with other electronic devices… or whatever the future’s analogue of today’s Internet may be. With such implants as they would possess, they could download information direct to their brain. Learning would be revolutionised, with people knowing everything they wished to know about a subject without having to go through the messy and cumbersome process of using the eyes as a go-between.

Distance learning courses and other similar activities would be similarly in demand in such a world. The flow of information would become an even more valuable commodity as people became hungry for more information due to the ease of access.

All this is probably still a long way off. But if it sounds scary, and unnatural, or even implausible, just remember that they probably once said much the same thing about organ transplants… or blood transfusions!