Computers 'could store entire life by 2026'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Computers 'could store entire life by 2026'*
By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 13/12/2006
A device the size of a sugar cube will be able to record and store high
resolution video footage of every second of a human life within two
decades, experts said yesterday.
Researchers said governments and societies must urgently debate the
implications of the huge increases in computing power and the growing
mass of information being collected on individuals.
Some fear that the advent of "human black boxes" combined with the
extension of medical, financial and other digital records will lead to
loss of privacy and a dramatic expansion of the nanny state.
Others highlight positive advances in medicine, education, crime
prevention and the way history will be recorded.
Leading computer scientists, psychologists and neuroscientists gathered
to debate these issues at Memories for Life, a conference held at the
British Library yesterday.
Prof Nigel Shadbolt, president of the British Computer Society and
professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Southampton,
said: "In 20 years' time it will be possible to record high quality
digital video of an entire lifetime of human memories. It's not a
question of whether it will happen; it's already happening."
Cliff Lynch, director of the US think tank Coalition for Networked
Information, said the changes could lead to a dramatic extension of
state interference.
"Imagine having a personal companion that whines at you three times a
day, telling you that you are eating the wrong things and that you spent
more than you earned today. The scary thing is it might be foisted on us."