Kimberly Forsythe

When I first heard the term ‘Quantum Archaeology’, my first thought about it mixed with recent news that quantum computers have just ‘reversed time’. I imagined using quantum computing to trace back the steps of humanity to discover every single little step of the way that led us to where we are today. And, that is exactly correct. I was excited enough about that idea!

But, when I realized that it also encompassed figuring out how to resurrect the dead by recreating them? Well, my mind was truly blown. The idea that death, as we know it, will no longer be an ‘absolute’ is a hard concept to wrap your brain around. After all, we have been raised to believe that the only two certain things in life are ‘death and taxes’ (the latter will be going away soon, as well, just FYI). To think that now nothing in life is absolute is overwhelming for most of us.

So, I wanted to dive into this concept a little more and see what people on all sides of the topic were saying. Proponents believe it will happen in the next few decades, perhaps by 2050. Opponents believe it is a pipe dream due to the immense amount of computing power needed to accomplish such a feat or that it goes against the laws of nature or morality. And, those in the middle are just watching and waiting.

Many proponents are part of a growing movement and believe that humans will one day transcend our current forms to become Transhuman. They believe that human evolution never stopped and we have yet to reach the pinnacle of our existence. In fact, they now have their own US-based political movement and some states are beginning to introduce bills to restrict the actions of the movement.

Opponents criticize the idea of ‘Quantum Archaeology’, believing that it will take humanity an extremely long time to devise processors powerful enough to accomplish this goal, making it highly unrealistic. Some argue that even if we did accomplish it, the creatures that are created, despite having the exact same physiological structure and potentially even memories of their human predecessor, would still not be resurrecting the same person who died. Still, others fear the idea of resurrecting someone such as Hitler may be a terrible idea, or that we may use the power to sadistically retroactively punish the new Hitler for the crimes of the old Hitler (Black Mirror, anyone?).

The mere fact that we have these growing movements is a clear indication that it is time for the world to have some pretty frank discussions regarding the future of technology. We all know how slowly new legislation can move in contrast to how fast technology is developing. If we wait too long, we risk losing big.