Elon Musk wants to upload a human brain to a robot in 20 years: do we believe it?

Uploading a human mind to a robot

Elon Musk discussed the idea of ​​”mind uploading” in a conversation with podcaster Lex Friedman. He suggested that one day, people will be able to transfer their memories and even their personalities into new bodies—for example, robots.

If it’s completely safe and gives superhuman abilities, I think a lot of people will want to try it,” Musk said.

He connects this idea with two of his projects: the Tesla Optimus robot and the Neuralink neural interface, which is already successfully reading brain signals .

Creating digital immortality

Why is he even talking about this? It’s simple: Musk sees the future in the fusion of man and machine. Neuralink is creating implants that can digitally transfer thoughts, and Optimus is being developed as a universal robot capable of performing human tasks . Combine the two, and you get a kind of “digital immortality”: the brain controls the machine, and the body becomes a mere replaceable shell.

However, there are enormous obstacles to achieving such a future. Scientists still don’t fully understand how human consciousness works . To “digitize” the mind, we need to go beyond simply counting billions of neurons and understand how exactly they create feelings, memory, and personality.

Moreover, questions arise: who will own the “new body,” how will the brain data be protected from hacking, and will the “uploaded” person even remain themselves? Therefore, Musk’s twenty-year prediction sounds more like an optimistic guess than a precise plan.

Elon Musk’s Predictions

And in general, you can’t trust Elon Musk’s words. He often makes grandiose statements, only to have the reality turn out to be completely different. One example is Tesla’s autonomous taxi, which was planned to launch in the early 2020s. But where is it now? Yes, in 2024, it was said to be about to launch , but there’s no news yet.

And by the way, take a look at the video below. It doesn’t show the Tesla Optimus robot, of course, but its Chinese counterpart. But are you ready to transfer your mind into such a hilariously clumsy piece of iron?