It’s not you, it’s… ok, it’s you. MIT cuts ties with brain preservation startup

MIT is pumping the brakes on their highly criticized relationship with Nectome, the small biotech company who wowed the neuroscience world with their insane idea of “backing up” people’s brains for ...

MIT is pumping the brakes on their highly criticized relationship with Nectome, the small biotech company who wowed the neuroscience world with their insane idea of “backing up” people’s brains for the possibility of future digital upload.

It’s not you, it’s… ok, it’s you. MIT cuts ties with brain preservation startup

All the procedure cost was your life — and a one-time waitlist fee of $10k.

Wait, what was that first part again? 

But, MIT came to their senses, and on April 2 released a statement saying they would terminate their subcontract with the company.

Just a quick upload to the cloud

Founded by MIT grads and supported by Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator, Nectome received a $915k grant from the National Institute of Mental Health after “successfully” completing the procedure on a pig. Shortly after, they began working with one of MIT’s top neuroscientists, Ed Boyden.

But things started to go south after a number of experts in the field criticized a process that, according to Nectome’s founder, is “100% fatal.”

Even worse, the brain has to be operative for the services to work, meaning the procedure would consist of pumping embalming fluids into their arteries, preserving the brain during “download,” then, when it’s finished… light’s out.

Hmm, starting to sound pretty messed up now

MIT explains in the statement that Nectome’s promise is just too unknown to guarantee, which is why they’re getting out.

“Currently, we cannot directly measure or create consciousness,” the statement said. “Given that limitation, how can one say if, for example, a computer or a simulation is conscious?” 

In other words, scientists aren’t even sure what compounds in the brain make our memories, let alone how to save them.

That’s not even to mention the ethical concerns

This is assisted euthanization we’re talking about here some experts worried this procedure could attract the possibility of people killing themselves to donate their brains, after all the cofounder said it himself, “Product-market fit is people believing that it works.”

Upon the announcement, Nectome has since taken to removing anything on their website referencing the “backup.”

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