0:00:00 > 0:00:00That's it from me, Duncan Golestani will be here at 2am.
0:00:01 > 0:00:03Now on BBC News, it's time to Click.
0:00:09 > 0:00:19This week, preserving people during life and after death. The digital
0:00:19 > 0:00:29legacy that you leave behind. And lots of reasons. -- freezers.
0:00:49 > 0:00:55Ah, the streets of San Francisco! Mecca for technology innovators and
0:00:55 > 0:01:03officially on are those. A destination where the cult of geek
0:01:03 > 0:01:07reigns supreme. Everyone's got that billion-dollar idea here and
0:01:07 > 0:01:11everyone wants to save the world. The ethos of nothing's impossible
0:01:11 > 0:01:17runs in the veins and Twitter feeds of every twentysomething Zuckerberg
0:01:17 > 0:01:22wannabe. Now Silicon Valley is taking on life's biggest challenge,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25death. Dave Lee has been looking at how
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Silicon Valley is trying to help us all live longer.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35This will be my last meal for 36 hours. Like a growing number of
0:01:35 > 0:01:40people in Silicon Valley, I'm about to try fasting, something some here
0:01:40 > 0:01:45believe could contribute to extending our lifespan.My advice to
0:01:45 > 0:01:50you is sleep in really late so you don't have to deal with it!
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Christian Brown is a biotechnology journalist. She tells me living
0:01:53 > 0:01:58longer is becoming something of an obsession for many tech people.We
0:01:58 > 0:02:04tend to see people not just being in the body as a machine but talking
0:02:04 > 0:02:07about it metaphorically as a machine.Is it making any progress?
0:02:07 > 0:02:12It's growing so quickly right now, we understand so much more this year
0:02:12 > 0:02:15than we did last year even but the other thing about science is the
0:02:15 > 0:02:20more questions you and so, the more questions there are.The following
0:02:20 > 0:02:24morning my first stop after a skipped breakfast was Jeffrey Woo.
0:02:24 > 0:02:32He is chief executive of a firm called human. He says fasting can
0:02:32 > 0:02:38improve productivity and increase our lifespan. Jeffrey promotes the
0:02:38 > 0:02:4236 hour faster that I'm on and his company sells products they claim
0:02:42 > 0:02:47will boost your body's reaction to fasting.So when you're extending
0:02:47 > 0:02:52beyond a 24-hour fast you're dipping into a metabolic state called key
0:02:52 > 0:02:56ptosis, which stores your body fat into an efficient source of energy.
0:02:56 > 0:03:02As one gets better at being in key ptosis, cognitive clarity ends up
0:03:02 > 0:03:07being a productivity boost.To test it we measured the key to level in
0:03:07 > 0:03:13my body with a simple blood test. My ketone levels were low, has to be
0:03:13 > 0:03:17expected, but next I drank one of their ketone producing products.You
0:03:17 > 0:03:23can expect to within 15 minutes are equivalent to five to seven days
0:03:23 > 0:03:27worth of fasting in your system.The science behind what benefits can be
0:03:27 > 0:03:32had isn't exactly watertight. One study suggests one of human's other
0:03:32 > 0:03:36products may not have any greater effect than a cup of coffee. The
0:03:36 > 0:03:46moment of truth for me came around 30 minutes later. Wow.2.2. OK.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Eventually equivalent to having fasted for three or four days in 30
0:03:50 > 0:03:54minutes.Theeb session with reduced the nation and longevity here has
0:03:54 > 0:03:59even been satirised on HBO's Silicon Valley.It's my transfusion
0:03:59 > 0:04:04associate.Like all great comedy, it's funny because it's true.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08One incredible idea being tested here can be traced back to this man,
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Paul Burt. In the mid-1800 he claimed if you took an old mouse and
0:04:13 > 0:04:17literally stitched it together with a young mouse, the young mouse would
0:04:17 > 0:04:21become more agile, have a better memory and heal more quickly once it
0:04:21 > 0:04:26had the young blood flowing through its brains. Of course we can't start
0:04:26 > 0:04:29stitching humans together but there is a start-up that thinks it can do
0:04:29 > 0:04:36than expected thing. This is a California based start-up
0:04:36 > 0:04:43that believes weekly injections of blood plasma from young people can
0:04:43 > 0:04:47help fight of our signers.We treated these patients once a week
0:04:47 > 0:04:51for four weeks with one unit of plasma and we found the treatment
0:04:51 > 0:04:57was safe and very importantly, although it was a short study to see
0:04:57 > 0:05:02learning and memory improvements, but it was good enough to see some
0:05:02 > 0:05:05near-term improvements. The team said it found those treated
0:05:05 > 0:05:09were more capable of basic daily tasks and more aware of their
0:05:09 > 0:05:14surroundings. Encouraging but far from conclusive. So far it's only
0:05:14 > 0:05:19been proven that this technique works with mice, but it's hoped that
0:05:19 > 0:05:23extensive human studies might help this team unlock the secret to
0:05:23 > 0:05:28easily rejuvenate in humans. Ultimately we might be able to
0:05:28 > 0:05:31identify agents that can be administered orally.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35To gather this database set up a partnership to get the blood plasma
0:05:35 > 0:05:39from great Falls, a major pharmaceutical firm based in Spain.
0:05:39 > 0:05:45People are being paid to give up their young blood.Well, that's a
0:05:45 > 0:05:49fascinating ethical question. I actually think that there is a large
0:05:49 > 0:05:54pool of donors currently which is increasing and I think there's an
0:05:54 > 0:05:58increasing recognition of how valuable plasma proteins are.To get
0:05:58 > 0:06:02some answers on whether or not fantastical ideas could actually
0:06:02 > 0:06:07work, I went to visit one of the world's foremost experts on ageing.
0:06:07 > 0:06:13Fasting elicits a response in your body that triggers a protection
0:06:13 > 0:06:19against many diseases associated with age. So growing realisation
0:06:19 > 0:06:23that multiple forms of fasting might be beneficial in the long-term.One
0:06:23 > 0:06:27of them or perhaps outrageous ideas is that you can transfer young blood
0:06:27 > 0:06:31into an older person and that will rejuvenate and slow the ageing
0:06:31 > 0:06:36process, is that true?First let's talk about the science in mice. It
0:06:36 > 0:06:41is actually amazing work. The science is really strong. Now,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44taking this and bringing it to humans is a completely different
0:06:44 > 0:06:50story, so the idea for example that one would take human plasma or human
0:06:50 > 0:06:55plasma product and give it to humans to prevent ageing is, in my opinion,
0:06:55 > 0:07:01lunacy. Finally, my 36 hours were up. I'm
0:07:01 > 0:07:07not sure it's worth it, the lows I had last night and this morning were
0:07:07 > 0:07:11awful and to do that regularly I think might lead to a longer life
0:07:11 > 0:07:15but it certainly wouldn't be a happier one. What could be really
0:07:15 > 0:07:19interesting, though, is if these companies can recreate the positive
0:07:19 > 0:07:23effects of fasting without the hard work of having to go without food
0:07:23 > 0:07:27for such a long period of time. But for now, I think I'm going to choose
0:07:27 > 0:07:28breakfast.
0:07:30 > 0:07:37That was Dave Lee. And while the quest for a longer life might take a
0:07:37 > 0:07:40little while longer, technology has been looking at other ways to help
0:07:40 > 0:07:46us live on through avatars. The University of Salford California has
0:07:46 > 0:07:51been creating virtual versions of Holocaust survivors for the last few
0:07:51 > 0:07:56years, preserving their memories and experiences for future generations.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Survivors are interviewed at length inside a special light stage used by
0:08:00 > 0:08:07Hollywood to capture them in 360 degrees. Using voice recognition and
0:08:07 > 0:08:11machine learning, anyone can interact with these digital
0:08:11 > 0:08:21holograms at special exhibit sites. One end, that was my dad's Aston
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Martin survived, so from the immediate extended family there were
0:08:24 > 0:08:30three of us that survived. I went along for a scan myself. Now
0:08:30 > 0:08:34the rig admittedly looks rather make sure with lots of low-cost cameras
0:08:34 > 0:08:39capturing me from different angles. By scanning some extreme facial
0:08:39 > 0:08:43expressions, most mouse movements and emotions can also be simulated
0:08:43 > 0:08:48by merging between them.Right now we can capture ourselves as we are
0:08:48 > 0:08:52today, perhaps our people, our lives are going to get older and the next
0:08:52 > 0:08:56generation would see them any more. Can I capture grandma and grandpa?
0:08:56 > 0:09:01Can I capture enough of how they've moved, what they think to a certain
0:09:01 > 0:09:04extent, we combine that with artificial intelligence where it
0:09:04 > 0:09:07would be possible to have an interaction with a person who is not
0:09:07 > 0:09:11alive any more. Here in the UK the four of the
0:09:11 > 0:09:16project is also working on a similar idea at the national Holocaust
0:09:16 > 0:09:20centre and museum, virtually preserving survivor experiences.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25Bardet digital legacy isn't just for people like these. Most of us will
0:09:25 > 0:09:28leave a will regarding our possessions or instructions for our
0:09:28 > 0:09:32funeral arrangements but now emphasis is also being placed on our
0:09:32 > 0:09:38digital footprint too. I spoke to Facebook's head of global policy
0:09:38 > 0:09:42about our postmortem account options. This is such an incredibly
0:09:42 > 0:09:48sensitive subject that for Facebook I would imagine is an impossible
0:09:48 > 0:09:53task to get right.It's certainly a very difficult area for us. Losing
0:09:53 > 0:09:59people is so hard and at Facebook we want to make sure that we are
0:09:59 > 0:10:03respecting that person's life and respecting the choices that person
0:10:03 > 0:10:08made, but we also want to make sure we're making this process as easy as
0:10:08 > 0:10:12possible for the family members that are going through it and actually
0:10:12 > 0:10:16it's sometimes hard for us to satisfy both of those.So I'd
0:10:16 > 0:10:21imagine a lot of people do not tell you, Facebook, what they want to
0:10:21 > 0:10:27happen to their accounts after their death, so how do you know what to
0:10:27 > 0:10:31do?That's right, a lot of people don't. I want to be clear that there
0:10:31 > 0:10:35is a way to tell Facebook what you would like to happen to your account
0:10:35 > 0:10:40after you pass away, we call it our legacy contact. You can actually
0:10:40 > 0:10:44designate someone who can look after your account after you're gone.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Basically this gives the person, you can choose what authority you want
0:10:48 > 0:10:54the person to have, but this gives the person the choice to, say,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58change your profile photo or add friends or put a post at the top of
0:10:58 > 0:11:02your profile. They do not become you, they cannot control every
0:11:02 > 0:11:05feature of the account, they can take some actions, they can choose
0:11:05 > 0:11:10to delete the account, but they do not have the ultimate control to
0:11:10 > 0:11:14look at your private messages. Family and friends have particular
0:11:14 > 0:11:19feelings about what happens to someone's memories when they're
0:11:19 > 0:11:24gone, they don't always agree. How do you even begin to settle those
0:11:24 > 0:11:27disputes? We will delete the profile if one
0:11:27 > 0:11:32person asks for it. Now, having gone through this myself, I lost my
0:11:32 > 0:11:37husband a little more than a year ago, and my experience was that it
0:11:37 > 0:11:41was very powerful for me and very comforting for me to be able to look
0:11:41 > 0:11:46at things that he had written, to see photos that he had posted. It
0:11:46 > 0:11:49made me feel like I could still connect with him and that he still
0:11:49 > 0:11:54was a very active presence in my life.I wonder whether you had any
0:11:54 > 0:11:59advice to people watching this on how to go forward if they experience
0:11:59 > 0:12:03something similar?I think the important thing is have the
0:12:03 > 0:12:08conversations now and talk about how you would want to treat your digital
0:12:08 > 0:12:12legacy, including what do you want to happen to your online presence,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16your Facebook account, your other accounts, and what is your plan for
0:12:16 > 0:12:21making sure that your estate, all the practical things that we don't
0:12:21 > 0:12:25like to think about very much in our daily lives are taken care of so
0:12:25 > 0:12:28your loved ones don't have to go through that.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Welcome to the week in tech. It was the week that the head of Microsoft
0:12:34 > 0:12:38said the world is running out of computing capacity and that quantum
0:12:38 > 0:12:42is the only way forward. A new degree in flying car
0:12:42 > 0:12:46engineering was announced at an e-learning school in Silicon Valley.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51And Facebook invented a new unit of time called a Flick. It's designed
0:12:51 > 0:12:56to help video editors and people working in visual effects. The new
0:12:56 > 0:13:00unit lasts longer than a nanosecond but is shorter than a microsecond.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05And Sky decided to take on the likes of Amazon and Netflix, launching its
0:13:05 > 0:13:09new now TV stick. It's also announced its goodbye to the old sky
0:13:09 > 0:13:14satellite dishes as all its services go online from 2019. Also this week
0:13:14 > 0:13:18General Motors became the first of driving car manufacturer to be sued
0:13:18 > 0:13:23over an accident. Its Chevrolet bolted a motorcyclist back in
0:13:23 > 0:13:28December. Meanwhile Tesla had its own autopilot problems when a model
0:13:28 > 0:13:31-esque ploughed into a fire truck. The race to put the first privately
0:13:31 > 0:13:35funded spacecraft on the moon is over and not with a rocket launch
0:13:35 > 0:13:40but a tweet and a statement. The Google lunar X prize offered a $200
0:13:40 > 0:13:44million prize fund for the first team to land on the moon by March.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Finally, a robot working in a supermarket has been fired by just
0:13:48 > 0:13:52one week for scaring customers await. Fabio was an Experian to see
0:13:52 > 0:13:56if robots would interact well with shoppers but it turns out it's
0:13:56 > 0:14:01instructions such as the beer is in the alcohol aisle infuriated people
0:14:01 > 0:14:04rather than helping them. The job market is tough out there!
0:14:09 > 0:14:09Unexpected
0:14:09 > 0:14:15item in bagging area...A familiar phrase, but as we've seen this week
0:14:15 > 0:14:24one that we may not need to hear much longer. Amazon Go's Seattle
0:14:24 > 0:14:28store finally launched on Monday. You can check in with your phone,
0:14:28 > 0:14:34cameras and sensors will log what you pick up and you will be
0:14:34 > 0:14:41instantly charged. They -- aren't the only companies trying to crack
0:14:41 > 0:14:50the cashier was supermarket model. It's time for a rather
0:14:50 > 0:14:53unconventional shopping experience. The first thing I'm going to do is
0:14:53 > 0:15:00get out my bag. I visited this north London convenience store, where IBM
0:15:00 > 0:15:04have been putting their prototype instant check out to the test.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09Because when it comes to actually checking out, the ID cards that sit
0:15:09 > 0:15:13on all of the products will be instantly scanned in one go, so you
0:15:13 > 0:15:15can put everything on here straightaway, although it does sort
0:15:15 > 0:15:20of feel wrong. And something sweet. So I have everything they need in my
0:15:20 > 0:15:26shopping bag, but I can't leave just yet. In fact, this is the fun bit.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31It's time for the instant check out. I put down my bag full of items and
0:15:31 > 0:15:35immediately what's on at that seamlessly comes up on the screen.
0:15:35 > 0:15:41If your cons -- you are concerned this could make things too easy for
0:15:41 > 0:15:44shoplifters, because obviously it looks like you've legitimately paid,
0:15:44 > 0:15:49then fear not. There is something to overcome that. Readers can be placed
0:15:49 > 0:15:53right by the doors, so if anybody does try to leave with something
0:15:53 > 0:15:57that hasn't been scanned, the alarm will go. For customers who are happy
0:15:57 > 0:16:02to share their habits and behaviour, artificial intelligence will come
0:16:02 > 0:16:05into play to combine that information with data on their
0:16:05 > 0:16:12surroundings.Convenience store like this will drastically change what
0:16:12 > 0:16:16people will come in and buy, how many people come in and when. It
0:16:16 > 0:16:21able to use all of those mass volumes of data, with
0:16:21 > 0:16:25predictability, all of that means we will be able to tell the retailer
0:16:25 > 0:16:30what to keep in stock and when.And that's a real driver behind all of
0:16:30 > 0:16:33this. To understand our shopping habits from the moment we enter a
0:16:33 > 0:16:40shop until we leave. This mill and store, dubbed the supermarket of the
0:16:40 > 0:16:49future, features a lot of screens. -- Milan store. There are cameras
0:16:49 > 0:16:52collecting data on customers' movements and interactions with
0:16:52 > 0:16:56products. The designers of the space of that as well as providing an
0:16:56 > 0:17:00insight into the retailer the data collection will better the overall
0:17:00 > 0:17:05shopping experience.A lot of information available regarding food
0:17:05 > 0:17:11does not appear anywhere when you get into the supermarket, so all of
0:17:11 > 0:17:15this data availability doesn't show up, so we need to give that kind of
0:17:15 > 0:17:18information back to the customer. But while most of us are still
0:17:18 > 0:17:24actually engaging with humans, it seems that the cashier less shop
0:17:24 > 0:17:30could be coming to a place near you fairly soon.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Now, we've been looking at various ways to try and extend human life,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39possibly indefinitely, but researchers can't do it yet and so
0:17:39 > 0:17:45on till they can there are those who are offering to put your life on
0:17:45 > 0:17:51pause. Marc Cieslak has been the Arizona to meet the
0:17:51 > 0:17:56self-preservation society.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Debt and taxes, as the saying goes, are the two things none of us can
0:18:04 > 0:18:08avoid. What about if there was a workaround for death, some way of
0:18:08 > 0:18:14extending our physical existence on this planet? This was founded in
0:18:14 > 0:18:191972 in order to preserve people at the point of death, freeze them and
0:18:19 > 0:18:22then when technology is sufficiently advanced revive them in the future.
0:18:22 > 0:18:31A process it calls cryonics.This is an interesting graphic on the
0:18:31 > 0:18:36history of cryonics, which goes back to 1773, when Benjamin Franklin
0:18:36 > 0:18:44fought about the future of America. What goes on in this space? I am
0:18:44 > 0:18:48seeing this simulates what you would normally perform when somebody dies.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Exactly. We have to wait for the legal death to be declared. Remove
0:18:53 > 0:18:58the patience to the ice bath, we cover them ice, and it the same time
0:18:58 > 0:19:03we will restart all kinds of things. We will use a respirator to recover
0:19:03 > 0:19:07breathing, we will use this mechanical CBI device and we are
0:19:07 > 0:19:10doing that because we want to administer a series of different
0:19:10 > 0:19:13medications to protect their cells. It is even though the patient is
0:19:13 > 0:19:17dead?If I when you donate an organ, even though the person has been
0:19:17 > 0:19:23declared dead that doesn't mean all of the cells are suddenly dead.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27Patients are effectively pumped full of antifreeze to protect their
0:19:27 > 0:19:32tissue from freezing the process which comes later. It costs up to
0:19:32 > 0:19:37$200,000 to preserve a full body and $60,000 if somebody just wants their
0:19:37 > 0:19:42head preserved.This is the operating room. We put the patient
0:19:42 > 0:19:46on the special operating table. This is designed to shape the patient for
0:19:46 > 0:19:52long-term storage. We don't want someone at a low B with their arm
0:19:52 > 0:19:59sticking out.-- with their arms sticking out. Usually when we do a
0:19:59 > 0:20:04separation, we do it if you vertebrae down, and then place the
0:20:04 > 0:20:10brain plus the skull upside down. Essentially it is the same process,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14we remove the blood and fluids from the brain and protect them against
0:20:14 > 0:20:16ice formation. Why would people want their head
0:20:16 > 0:20:21separated from their body? My view is that unless I die early
0:20:21 > 0:20:27in an accident, my body will be in lousy shape anyway and the whole
0:20:27 > 0:20:31thing will have to be regenerated. Why go to the extra cost of storing
0:20:31 > 0:20:36my whole body, which is ten times the volume of just my head?
0:20:36 > 0:20:43The corridors here are aligned with photos of people who are already
0:20:43 > 0:20:48frozen in Alcor's storage facility. This is where we store all of our
0:20:48 > 0:20:56patients, we have 152.These are all of your patience?Yes. All of our
0:20:56 > 0:21:01patients here. About two thirds of them are in Europe. -- are in a
0:21:01 > 0:21:06different section.They are just heads?Yes. Half of the members are
0:21:06 > 0:21:14full body. This contains four full body patience.Doesn't have any
0:21:14 > 0:21:17legal obligation to the people stored here, as they technically
0:21:17 > 0:21:22donated their bodies to science. What happens if you have a power
0:21:22 > 0:21:28cut?We don't need electricity for this. These are passive vessels,
0:21:28 > 0:21:35very expensive firma flasks. We just use the liquid nitrogen to maintain
0:21:35 > 0:21:42a temperature.Alcor says it's a non-profit organisation and it has
0:21:42 > 0:21:491150 people signed up for its services, including Silicon Valley
0:21:49 > 0:21:55billionaire Peter Teele. But what makes ordinary people shall upto
0:21:55 > 0:21:59$200,000 for cryogenic preservation? Act in the UK, this man has not
0:21:59 > 0:22:05himself and his family up for just that via a different outfit called
0:22:05 > 0:22:13The Cryonics Institute.Imagine being on your deathbed, dying, and
0:22:13 > 0:22:16then immediately waking up straightaway because the passage of
0:22:16 > 0:22:21time would mean anything, because I will be dead. So I'll wake up
0:22:21 > 0:22:28immediately and hopefully I will be able to remember things. Have my
0:22:28 > 0:22:31memory intact, hopefully.Your whole family is going to be preserved as
0:22:31 > 0:22:37well?Yeah. Luckily my wife and daughter are for the idea and are
0:22:37 > 0:22:45signed up members of the institute. But it is all too good to be true?
0:22:45 > 0:22:48We spoke to a neuroscientist who have serious misgivings about the
0:22:48 > 0:22:51basic foundations of cryonics.You really can't afford to freeze
0:22:51 > 0:22:56biological tissue until it has been appropriately protected, but unless
0:22:56 > 0:22:59you take it down to those low temperatures for protection quite
0:22:59 > 0:23:04quickly, it will continue to decompose. My problem with the
0:23:04 > 0:23:13cryonics dream, the wishful thinking contracts that are sold, if they
0:23:13 > 0:23:16haven't resolved that conflict. There is no evidence that they can
0:23:16 > 0:23:19get the antifreeze into all those micro nooks and crannies in the
0:23:19 > 0:23:25brain and satisfactorily protected. We put this to Alcor, who provided a
0:23:25 > 0:23:26detailed response:
0:23:40 > 0:23:48Said is this the ultimate insurance policy then?Yeah, it doesn't cost
0:23:48 > 0:23:51us anything. A bit of money.
0:23:56 > 0:24:02That was Marc Cieslak and that's it from San Francisco the now. Don't
0:24:02 > 0:24:07forget, there's loads of extra stuff from us on Twitter and on Facebook.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Thanks for watching and see you soon.