What format will get you more scale out of your existing assets?

It may be true that we can’t scale ourselves.

But when it comes to our brain, that’s a different story.

Because in the not too distant future, human beings will most likely be able to scan their entire consciousness into a computer. A piece of technology will eventually be created that migrates the essentials of our minds into a replica that lives in the digital afterlife for all eternity.

Now, the official term for this process is whole brain emulation, or mind uploading. The theory is that computers will run simulation models of our brain’s information processing, such that it will respond and be indistinguishable from the original brain.

Do you believe that’s possible? Will immortality become obsolete? Or is this just another one of those science fiction horror stories like cryogenic freezing that goes horribly wrong and kills leads to the zombie apocalypse that kills millions people?

It’s hard to tell. Humans are notoriously lousy at forecasting the future. Considering our species has incorrectly predicted the end of the world over three hundred times, it’s safe to say that nobody really knows what’s going to happen.

But the thought experiment of brain emulation is a fascinating one. The possibility that we can upload our minds to a computer where they can function without our direct involvement has profound entrepreneurial implications.

I started thinking about this ideas back in my public speaking days. Audience members often approached me after seminars to ask if they could pick my brain. Which was flattering initially, but it quickly grew into a time suck. I couldn’t have coffee with everybody.

To make matters worse, people never actually executed on any of the advice I gave them.

And so, I started charging for the service. For five hundred bucks, people could rent my brain for two hours. Anything goes. It was part consulting, part coaching, part mentoring, and all strategy. And the service sold well. Brain rental sessions became my second highest source of income for a few years.

The work was challenging, fulfilling and came naturally to me.

But back to our original problem. You can’t scale yourself. People who are in the business of charging for their time might be experts, but they’re not owners. There’s no equity there.

And my thought was, well, not everyone can have access to me, but if we could build a computer program that simulates my brain, then maybe anyone can learn to think like me.

What if, for a nominal monthly fee, people could rent access to a platform with a digital archive of my brain? What if people paid for exclusive admission to a proprietary tool kit that trained them to think in ways that have been so useful in my own life?

It’s not exactly scanning my consciousness into a computer, but damn it if this isn’t a way to emulate my brain. This thought experiment started in my twenties, persisted throughout my thirties, and eventually came to fruition in my forties.

After deconstructing what I’d spent twenty years doing intuitively and abstractly, my brain was finally replicated exactly and practically.

Prolific is not going to lead to the zombie apocalypse. Although stranger things have happened.

Point being, maybe the technology for brain emulation is closer than we think. Perhaps there is a way you could preserve your wisdom and transmit it to the next generation.

What if you tapped into the amazing commercial potential of preserving your brain?