Researchers are working on creating digital avatars, a lifelike digital representation that can continue long after your biological body has decomposed.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Commerce predicts that with the proper investments in technology, futuristic scenarios such as mind uploading, or humans living past 100 years, or people linking their brains together to form a global collective intelligence could come to pass in this century.

William Sims Bainbridge argues that uploading digital representations of our personalities and behavior into the cosmos rather than in-person star trekking is a form of space transportation worth thinking about.