Hi Guys

My thought is that with molecular computers and biotech we'll be able to code for faster, denser memory storage in our current skulls - the trend in nanotech is towards semi-biological self-assembly of circuits so it seems no great stretch to see it implemented in our own brains if we want real upgrades.

Alternatively the brain-reading studies that are revealling how the brain represents stimulii could lead to high-bandwidth direct brain-computer interfaces so we can keep all the extra memories out of our skulls.

SF writer Greg Egan's idea from a few stories is of a high-density brain-emulator implanted in the skull which reads the brain structure and replaces it neurone by neurone until eventually your mind is "run" entirely on semi-indestructible nanocircuitry. Then you can switch bodies or whatever. One scenario he sketches is a whole planet of people slowing their internal clocks while someone is away travelling between the stars so when the traveller gets back they'll all have close to the same elapsed subjective time.

Adam