Featured image by DarkmoonArt_de from Pixabay

“Indeed” answered Gina. “Lots of different people working on different pieces of this around the world. There is already a method to grow quickly grow brain cells from stem cells. Ever since science fiction wrote about the Frankenstein monster some small subset of scientists have worked on replacement body parts and replacement bodies. Some say the technology will marry 3D printers with stem cell cultures in the future and we will print new bodies. Not for everyone of course. Eventually some despot will attempt to impose a ‘Master Race’ mantra on the thing. In the beginning only those with massive wealth will be candidates. At some point it will hopefully be based on knowledge and skills. Sadly someone will come up with a solution for the excess population which won’t involve shipping them all to a colony in space to live out their lives building a new home for the Eternals.”

“Eternals?” questioned Janet.

“It is as good a name as any and someone will come up with far less flattering names for those with the funds to keep transferring to new bodies” replied Gina. “It’s doubtful any of us will live to see it. Part of me doesn’t think not living to see it is such a bad thing. I do want to be able to completely record everything in an entire human brain though. One could only really test that by putting it back in another brain.”

Two sets of wide eyes looked at Gina. “Oh you can’t just dump it into someone already living like in the movies. It won’t work. The image or content of a person’s brain can only be restored into a matching brain. There are far too many differences. Huge pieces of the old neural network will still be in there firing, trying to randomly connect. Trying to re-assert what was there before. Some backup copy of the file allocation table if you will. It will be hidden in some redundant part of the brain not in the new image so not overwritten.”

“How long have you been thinking about this sis?”

“Ever since I got dreams to replay” answered Gina. “It was just a fantasy until I figured out how to use software to catalog dreams. At some point someone will take the application even farther. Like when we mapped the human genome they will figure out how to map what I recorded to identify all of the essential dream information. The information which actually gets consumed by the receiving brain. Then we can use AI to generate custom dreams on demand. I’ve got quite a few developers working on various pieces of that now. Within five years it might be achievable. A shiny new Web site on the regular Internet can be created then. People will be able to custom design their dreams or pick from a menu of prepackaged dreams all artificially created.”

“This is what I do Janet” Gina stated looking directly at her. “I’m not maternal. I’m also not a great beauty. Not ugly, but plain like mom. I do have nice legs and I’m sure any number of men would jump at the chance to knock me up, but I don’t want kids. At least not now. Even if I did, bringing an outsider into this would be taking an unspeakable risk. Bobby brought you in. He didn’t ask me or inform me, but here you are. You do seem like the perfect choice for a matriarch. A guy on the other hand, at least any guy I would have interest in, wouldn’t be willing to just be Mr. mom at home with the kids. Guys, especially young guys as you have learned with Bobby, tend to want to jump anything in sight. I’ve never been good at sharing and some fool will brag just to get laid. Loose lips really do sink ships.”

“You mean you’ve never . . .” started Bobby.

“Oh be real!” Gina spat. “I have needs, just not your level of them. We live in California. Thousands of hard bodied young men hoping to get an acting break willing to sell themselves as high end escorts. They show up, wear a condom and don’t hang around. It’s like having a portable gym on speed dial. A couple of the really good ones I gave burner phones paid for via the same shell company which paid for their services. Whenever I have an itch one or both are available to scratch it. The only businesses doing better in Silicon Valley than tech companies are the high end escort services. Most of the larger tech companies have a black card on file with the better escort services.”

“I choose to focus on my work. I never took the time to go to college yet I’m a scientist. Better than many with advanced degrees even. There are no published papers on dream recording. There is very little published on mapping or parsing dreams, at lease from a scientific perspective. Do either of you realize there has only been our parents device and our phone app when it comes to both helping people sleep and the logging of dream brain waves? Despite the tens of millions of dollars being made, no real competing product has ever been introduced to market. Oh, nobody counts the $19.95 knock-offs sold on late night television. Actually that is only one product. They change its name every few months ones word gets around that it’s a fake. Our parents held the patents. There was no prior art to challenge with. There was certainly never another market on the product. No, I need to focus on my work and the businesses. Someone else needs to worry about continuing the family line and making sure everyone is both fed and clothed.”

“So that is the role you want me to assume sister?” asked Janet. “Family matriarch.”

“You’ve already assumed it, you just haven’t come to terms with it yet. Be warned. Mother knows nothing of this and can never know any of it. She would not approve and she doesn’t need the stress. While I hope she pulls through I fear I will never get a chance to ask about the pool boy.”

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