The Download: Preserving Minds and Weighing Open AI Risks
Plus: COP31's flagship pledge to electrify 35% of energy use is sinking.
By Thomas Macaulay | November 11, 2026
This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.
Six Wild Ideas for Perpetuating Your Mind
As we age, we forget most of what we've experienced, yet there remains an undeniable continuity: at 30, or 50, or 70, you will still be you.
To preserve that elusive continuity of self, some far-thinking technologists are exploring ways to keep the brain going—even beyond death. Their ideas range from freezing brains in liquid nitrogen to augmenting living ones and uploading our memories to the cloud.
Here are six possible paths for keeping your mind going, and how feasible they might be.
—Antonio Regalado
This story is from MIT Technology Review. Subscribe to read more.