In the spirit of the thread about being agnostic while accepting afterlife...

[Mr Orange]

I though that it would be HIGHLY ironic if science and technology evolve to a point when consciousness can be recorded/transplanted/enhanced to environments outside of the human brain so that it is self-sufficient and perhaps self-enhancing without any dependency on the human body. I'm not just talking about AI, but about the very real possibility of literally using technology to enhance and record consciousness on non-human medium. Why the hell not? If it is not that difficult to conceptualize, it is not that difficult to invent eventually.

 

If that ever happens, that would be supremely ironic on so many levels that I have hard time deciding on whom is the joke.

[Trojan John]

There is a British sci-fi author, Peter F. Hamilton, who has written a couple of series based on your exact thought. They get a bit convoluted at times, but they are still an enjoyable read.