[mahyarm]

How would silicon avoid something like cancer? Why would that make any difference?

[robertk]

Backups. If you can backup someone's brain (which should be doable in silicon), then even if they contract cancer, you can simply back them up for a few hundred years (or however long it takes) until there's a cure.

[mahyarm]

Oh I thought you meant the more literal substance, not making a software simulation reproduction.

[robertk]

Either way. I imagine silicon hardware that we intelligently designed would be easier to backup than messy biology we hardly understand.