The human brain evolved to have two halves — and a new review of previous research suggests that this dual design may confer special benefits.

The human encephalon evolved to have two halves — and a new review of previous inquiry suggests that this dual design may confer special benefits. (iStock)

NEWYou can now heed to Trick News articles!

"If you lot're under 40 reading this article, you're probably not going to die unless you get a nasty disease."

Those are the words of esteemed futurologist Dr. Ian Pearson, who told The Sunday he believes humans are very shut to achieving "immortality" – the ability to never die.

Humans have been trying to notice a way to contrivance decease for years.

Ancient Greek alchemists tried to create a "philosopher'due south stone" that would permit people alive forever, but humans have yet to beat decease.

However, Dr. Pearson tells The Sunday that there are a number of different means nosotros could live forever – equally long as you can get in to the year 2050.

If you kick the bucket before then, you might be function of the last generation of humans to die of old age.

Method #i: Renewing your torso parts

"There are quite a lot of people interested in living forever," explains Dr. Pearson. "There e'er has been, merely the divergence now is tech is improving so quickly, lots of people believe they tin can really exercise it."

He reveals that i mode to extend life would be to utilize bio-technologies and medicine to "go along renewing the body, and rejuvenating information technology".

"No ane wants to live forever at 95 years old, but if you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30, you might want to do that."

This could be done in several ways, including genetic engineering science that prevents (or reverses) the ageing of cells.

Alternatively, y'all could replace vital body organs with new parts.

Many scientists effectually the world are working on creating human organs using 3D printers loaded with living cells, which could one day brand human organ donors redundant.

Method #two: Living in android bodies

But Dr. Pearson thinks it'south much more likely that nosotros'll extend our lives a dissimilar way: robots.

"A long time before we go to fix our bodies and rejuvenate it every time we experience similar, we'll be able to link our minds to the machine world and then well, we'll effectively be living in the cloud," he explains.

"The heed will basically exist in the deject, and be able to use any android that you feel like to inhabit the real globe."

He says that in 50 years time, we might be able to rent an android anywhere in the world "just like a hire car", and upload your consciousness into it.

"If you wanted to spend the evening in Commonwealth of australia, going to the Sydney opera business firm, you could use an android."

This means that even when your original bodies dies, yous'd still be able to utilize your digital mind – stored on a computer – and live in the world using highly realistic robot bodies.

"The current state of sex dolls are starting to expect quite man-like. Give them another 30 years of development and they'll be extremely human-similar," Dr. Pearson reveals.

"You tin take whatsoever android trunk and they will look man-like, and download whatsoever mind you lot want. You could share ane with someone else, or have one yourself, or own dozens of them.

"You might fifty-fifty have ones of dissimilar genders and dissimilar ages, some old, young, female, male person – there might be new genders by 2050 as well, so several other ones you can pick too."

He explains that nosotros'll have to wait until around "2045, 2050" before we'll be able to create these strong encephalon-to-machine links, and says the cost will exist very high initially.

The outset people to use robot bodies to become immortal volition be the rich, only then "the price will gradually come up down."

Ane solar day your body dies – maybe you get striking by a autobus or a nasty affliction – just it doesn't affair, because your mind will still be in that location. You'll be able to use an android trunk instead of the organic 1 you just lost.

For normal people on everyday salaries, it'southward more likely that you'll have to look a little longer.

Immortality on the NHS

"By 2060, people like you or I will be able to purchase information technology, and by 2070 people in poor countries on modest incomes volition be able to buy it.

"Everyone volition have a risk to take immortality, a sort of electronic immortality.

"After 10, 15, 20 years, the price comes down to hundreds of pounds, rather than millions.

"It could be provided equally role of the NHS. You might be able to buy premium offerings on a private subscription, or you might get a bones presence on a network and exist allowed to use an android body."

Dr. Pearson says nosotros'll have to limit the number of android bodies people can own, withal.

"You might exist given one costless on the NHS, only you might be express to no more than ii or three.

"Rich people that tin beget it would probably want to take loads of different bodies, and if your heed is online, at that place'southward cipher to stop them replicating it millions of times over.

"You wouldn't want to live in a world where there are millions of Kardashians walking around, where they tin afford to do it and nobody else can.

"We would need to limit the number of bodies for environmental impact.

"Imaging taking everybody in the Britain. Once the economics allows everyone to have 10 bodies each, at that place would exist 600 meg people living here."

Method #3: Living in a virtual world

Simply if our minds are online, do we even need robot bodies? We could all merely alive in a computer simulation quite happily, according to Dr. Pearson.

"You could spend virtually of your time online in the virtual world, of course anywhere in the earth on any computer.

"If you lot're online all the time, yous could have a fantastic life online. It would exist all virtual, so you could accept annihilation you desire. 72 virgins if that's what drives you; all of that, considering it'southward totally imaginary.

"You could make as much fun every bit you could maybe imagine online. You might all the same want to come up into the real world.

You could link your mind to millions of other minds, and accept unlimited intelligence, and be in multiple places at once.

The cutting-off – holding on for dear life

The tricky chip is surviving until the engineering becomes widely available.

"By 2050, it volition only really be for the rich and famous.

"Most people on middle-course incomes and reasonable working-course incomes tin can probably beget this in the 2060s. So anyone ninety or under by 2060.

"If yous were born sometime in 1970 onwards, that would brand you lot 48 this year. So anybody under fifty has got a good chance of it, and anyone under xl nearly definitely will have access to this.

"About of your readers are probably going to live forever," Dr. Pearson tells us.

This story originally appeared in The Sun.