R.J. Harris

Sydney Blumenthal - the World's First Digital Human R.J. Harris

This story is a bizarre adventure in neuroscience. It describes a small group of scientists and friends working in Oxford who, because of an accident, are forced to embrace the principle of self-experimentation. The consequences of their actions are not only unforeseen but quite unprecedented in the world of biological science - especially when they digitalise the entire conscious personality of Sydney Blumenthal, a leading member of the group. As the story unfolds it tries - I hope in an entertaining way - to explore the tantalising cross-over between computer science, genetics and medical science, together with some of the strange, legal and ethical ramifications this cross-over creates. It is this potent, fertile mixture of disciplines which, in many ways, is already defining the future of medicine. However, I have no doubt that the medical wonders which will in fact come to define the future, will far outstrip the imaginative scope of this story.