Pearson sees downloaded brains in our future

BT's head futurologist Ian Pearson sees a future where we'll all be able to download our brains onto a supercomputer, where we'll undoubtedly spend the rest of our days riding around in light cycles and playing deadly games of frisbee. According to Pearson, the technology could become a reality as soon as 2050, but will likely remain the realm of the rich for a few decades — the rest of us will have to wait 'till 2075 or 2080, by which time Bill Gates should be serving his eighth term as king of the Microverse (TM) . But before that Pearson thinks we'll see
conscious computers with "superhuman levels of intelligence" —
with emotions even — by the year 2020. Or as he puts it, an airplane computer that's more terrified of crashing than the passengers.