CES is full of some crazy stuff, but one of the craziest things we saw was from newcomer PsychaSec, which promises to grow a clone from your cells and upload your consciousness into that clone. You know, in case you die or something similarly catastrophic.
When Tuan first sent photos back from the show floor, I thought someone had seriously lost their marbles. CES has its fair share of outlandish prototype tech, but human cloning is still a bit sci-fi. And I wanted to know why there wasn't a proper 'live' demo of a working clone. It also kicked off my déjà vu because I just read Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon last month, plus Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom last week. I went on a cyberpunk book binge over the holidays, and that name sounded awful familiar.
Surprise—the whole gig is a spoof by Netflix promoting its new Altered Carbon series, which will debut in February.
The booth operators all acted very serious, with white lab coats and a deadpan delivery, to the point that Tuan didn't realize it was a publicity stunt. That's some slick marketing (and Tuan, I have a bridge to sell you). It's also very comforting, because I'm not at all ready for clones and consciousness uploads to go mainstream. Especially if they're as ugly looking as the above mannequins. Maybe when I'm a bit older, though…
