Forever Me…

In what reads like the penultimate salute to themselves by the ME generation my Iconoculture Web report this week focused upon a new service available in Switzerland to immortalize oneself. As reported in Iconoculture -

- Thanks to technology, immortality is surprisingly affordable and available. Swiss DNA Bank, located in an underground vault in Gstaad, offers swab-n-send DNA collection materials and access to a secure website to record audio, video and written life experiences, which will be stored indefinitely (Springwise.com 9.16.09).

- Your essence is kept in bank-level security in a nuclear-proof facility.

- Given two passwords, relatives or friends can purchase access to the information for $69.

- The $399 cost of the DNA-plus-digital kit is the one-time-only charge. Digital-only storage is available for $299.

For those who indeed value their LegacySM, DNA storage provides confidence times two: white-coat expertise and the security of a nuclear-proof vault.

So, in theory, one could at some future time be cloned, using one’s own DNA and then have one’s digital memory somehow reinstated. Of course one would have to start over as a “mini-Me”, but I guess that’s not all bad, except maybe going through the raging hormones teen stage again.

I suppose that this makes as much sense as having yourself cryogenically frozen in hopes of one day being thawed out and cured of whatever killed you. It costs a lot less, too. It would probably be a little weird to have all of those memories of a prior life bouncing around in your cloned little head, but that would give others around you an answer to what it was that just made baby smile. People will say that you just remembered something funny that you did the first time around.

Maybe you could hide a bunch of money in a secret Swiss bank account before you kicked off and then only the future you would know the code. The possibilities are an endless as is the stupidity of the whole idea. Hey, save some money. For only $199, I’ll remember you; then, you won’t have too.