There are only two things certain in this world: death and taxes. There’s nothing you can do about taxes (thanks, Uncle Sam!) But thanks to Alcor, dying might just be the beginning of your journey.

The Alcor Life Extension Foundation is the world leader in cryonics – or the science of using ultra-cold temperature to freeze and preserve human bodies. By now, you’ve likely heard of a few famous people freezing their heads to one-day rise again. But does it really work? Read on to learn more about Alcor’s experimental practice.

Cryonics Crazy History

Cryonics might sound like some crazy idea out of a science fiction movie. But it’s actually a very real science.

Here’s the deal:

Cryonics traces its roots back over 50 years. That’s when a dying psychologist named Dr. James Bedford ordered his son to find a way to have him frozen. His son obeyed and turned to Robert F. Nelson, the first president of the Cryonics Society of California.

Nelson froze Bedford in 1967 and, in doing so, became an international celebrity. Over the years, he froze several more patients before eventually going broke. Most of the bodies were left to rot and cryonics was frozen.

The science may have stalled, but the groundwork had been laid. The Alcor Foundation was founded five years later in an effort to reinvent and restore cryonics.

How You Can Get Your Head Frozen

Looking to extend your life? You’re not alone.

Now you can get try your hand at immortality by signing up with Alcor to cryogenically freeze your body.

Members sign up by paying annual dues and a single payout after death. The final payout is usually covered via an insurance policy. After signing some legal documents, you can set up a plan for a field response team to reach you on your deathbed.

This is crazy:

Cryopreservation begins as soon as you are declared legally dead. Alcor has paramedics and surgeons on call throughout the U.S. They rush your body to Alcor headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. They then store your body in liquid nitrogen in the hopes that you can one day rise again.

Procrastinators beware. Alcor only has 24 hours to freeze you before your body shuts down completely. So you should put in some preparation time before you’re on your deathbed.

Famous Fans

Cryogenics fans are in good company. Fellow frozen “cryonauts” include the likes of Austin Powers, Han Solo, and even Fry from Futurama. Okay, those are fictional characters. But there are still some very real figures involved with cryogenics.

Iconic figures like baseball legend Ted Williams, TV writer Dick Clair, and futurist FM-2030 are all preserved. Sadly, Walt Disney never made the final cut.

Adding to Alcor’s buzz is a laundry list of famous fans. Celebrities like Simon Cowell, Larry King, and PayPal founder Peter Thiel have all expressed their desire to be frozen by Alcor.

Are you sold yet? Here’s the catch:

You have to pony up some serious cash to get frozen. Alcor’s rate for a full-body preservation is $200,000. But a head-only freeze comes with a hefty discount of $120,000.

So it’s no wonder that there are only a handful of loyal followers. Alcor, the largest cryonics facility in the U.S., has frozen less than 150 people and has a current membership of roughly 1,000 people.

Does it Work?

There’s no denying the appeal of cryonics. It’s a shot at extending your life, living in the future, and hanging out with celebs. But hold off before signing the dotted line.

Here’s the bottom line:

Alcor admits its not yet possible to revive human brains cryopreserved with present methods. Basically, you have to pray that future technology comes to the rescue.

Currently, the walls of Alcor are lined with frozen heads stored in liquid nitrogen canisters. It’s basically like a weird, futuristic version of the Hall of Faces from Game of Thrones.

The preserved heads and bodies are just waiting for someone to come along with the science to bring them back to life.

That might happen – or it might not. Then again, there’s always the chance they come back as ice zombies.

The future is terrifying.

5 Reasons It’s Stupid to Believe We’re Living in a Simulation

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably read the story that Elon Musk thinks we’re living in a simulation. The scary thing is, he’s not alone. The theory has spread like wildfire throughout Silicon Valley thanks to a 2003 essay by philosopher Nick Bostrom.

According to Musk, if it’s true that some advanced civilization in the future could create a simulation that is indistinguishable from reality, then new simulations would probably proliferate like video games. Therefore the probability that our reality is the original “base” reality is one in billions. Therefore, we’re living in a simulation.

This might sound a little nuts, but it’s gone so far that even Bank of America is on board. In a letter to clients, they claim that there is a 20-50% chance that we are living in a simulation. Crazy, right?

The problem is, it’s more than crazy. It’s also stupid, probably impossible, and even a little dangerous.

Here’s why.

1. Simulations still exist in reality

Something we often forget about virtual reality is that it also exists in the real world. It’s not like you can magically conjure up a world out of nothing—even the most fantastical virtual world still has to obey the laws of nature, even if that only means electrons moving around inside a computer. Unless you could invent a simulation that was self-contained alternate dimension and didn’t require a computer, technically the simulation would still exist inside of the “base” reality.

Whew! I think I just broke my brain.

2. It may be impossible to simulate the human mind

Humans have been studying the brain for centuries, and while we’ve made huge advances in that time, we still don’t understand how consciousness works. So while we may be able to treat various mental conditions and physical issues with the brain like acquired brain injury, simulating actual human consciousness in a computer is a long way off—and at this stage, we don’t even know if it’s possible at all. Are we too stupid to even simulate our own stupidity?

3. If a simulation is indistinguishable from reality, it is reality

What if you realized you were living in a simulation, but there’s no way you could ever confirm your theory because there’s no way you could ever see the simulation from the outside? While this may be a fascinating idea to some, many others might say: Who the hell cares? If there’s no way out of your simulation, and it’s basically indistinguishable from reality, then it is reality—at least for you. Why not just get on with your (possibly simulated) life?

4. If people really believed that nothing was real, could it lead to a societal breakdown?

If Elon Musk manages to convince everyone that they are living inside a simulation, what would the social consequences be? If people really started to believe that nothing is real, and that their actions have no consequences, would they start to disregard laws and morality? Would concepts like love and loyalty be devalued, since they are most probably parameters programmed into a game? Would taboos like murder, theft, and wanton destruction suddenly become acceptable?

There’s only one way to find out, I guess.

5. Will simulation theories lead to Silicon Valley billionaires to destroy the universe?

According to a New Yorker profile of Y Combinator president Sam Altman, two unnamed Silicon Valley billionaires have become so obsessed with the idea that we are living in a simulation, they are secretly funding teams of scientists to find a way out. Of course, all this sounds like the plot of the Matrix, but when you think about it, they’re relying on one pretty hefty assumption: that there’s something else outside of our reality. Sure, we might wake up gasping like Keanu Reeves in our stasis pod—or, they could wind up accidentally deleting us all and ending life as we know it. After all, if a hard drive crashes in the middle of a vacuum, will anybody hear it?

Robo-Perverts, Racism, and Bollywood Hip Hop: 7 AI Experiments that Will Make You Afraid for the Future

Take a look at many of the AI experiments being run in universities around the world, and there’s only one word that accurately describes what the future might be like:

Stupid.

If these projects are any indication, get ready for an AI apocalypse that includes schizophrenic robots, racist AIs, annoying pop songs, and fun games that could lead to the end of the human race as we know it.

Here are seven AI experiments that will make you very afraid for the future.

1. Inspirobot Will Crush Your Soul

If you had any doubt at all that an evil AI will rise up against human kind and kill us all, then please take a look at exhibit A: Inspirobot. This web-based AI is programmed to generate the kind of inspirational memes you often see people posting on Instagram.

At first glance, Inspirobot’s memes don’t look that different: funky fonts emblazoned over a soft focus images of sunsets, mountains and contemplative moments.

But look again: The messages are bleak, nonsensical, or just downright terrifying.

Might this be a sign of things to come—proof that an AI will hate our soft, sentimental human flesh?

2. An AI Wrote this Bollywood Hip Hop Song

When you think of all the ways that AI might benefit humankind, composing a Bollywood hip hop song may not be the first thing that comes to mind.

And yet, here we are.

Philadelphia data scientist Srikanth Iyer recently wondered if he could create the ultimate Bollywood party song by feeding lyrics from 100 other songs into a neural network.

The result?

Scientifically, he created the greatest Bollywood part song ever. Whether it is actually good or not is another matter. The possibilities, however, are terrifying.

Imagine a future where millions of Venga Bus-esque pop hits are churned out every day by AI songwriters. It’s sick.

3. Neo Nazi Chatbot

When Microsoft developed an AI in the persona of a 19-year-old girl named Tay and released her on Twitter, it seemed like an interesting experiment.

But, less than a day later, things went horribly wrong.

In 24 hours she gained 50,000 followers, and quickly started imitating them.

Soon, Tay began saying offensive things like “Hitler was right” and “i f****** hate feminists.” It got so bad, that Microsoft had to delete the robot.

Here we are worrying about an evil AI, but it turns out that we are a terrible influence. Maybe we all just need to put the computers away and take a good look in the mirror.

4. Schizophrenic Robot

Given all the dire scenarios involving AI that have been predicted over the years, you’d think it might be a bad idea to create a schizophrenic AI.

Well, researchers at the University of Texas thought a little differently.

They overloaded their AI test subject, named DISCERN, to emulate the mind of a schizophrenic.

Pretty soon, DISCERN struggled to separate fact and fiction and began to talk to itself in the third person. At one point, the computer even claimed responsibility for a terrorist bombing.

Let’s just hope they keep that thing locked up in the lab.

5. Robot Porn Addict

We know it can be bad for humans to sit in a dark room watching porn all day. But what about robots?

Well, if Brian Moore’s “Porn Addict Robot” is anything to go by, they just think they’re watching people brush their teeth.

Moore’s robot binge-watches videos from Pornhub, and then explains what it thinks it’s seeing via Twitter. The results are not only woefully inaccurate, but also hilarious.

6. AI Can Predict the Future

While many of the AIs described here seem to have very little grasp on reality, “Nautilus” is one major exception. This AI was fed millions of newspaper articles starting from 1945.

Then, it was asked to make predictions about the future.

Shockingly, based on this information, Nautilus was able to accurately pinpoint the location of Osama bin Laden. It also predicted revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Lybia.

This could be bad news for the pundits, but then it often seems they are paid to be wrong.

7. Could This Fun AI Game be Something More Sinister?

Google’s “Quick, Draw” AI experiment may not seem that sinister—what could be bad about a Pictionary-style game where the computer must guess what you’ve drawn?

But step back. What’s really going on here?

When Quick, Draw asks us to draw a helicopter, are we actually training the real-life Skynet to bring down our military? When it asks us to draw a gun, will a Terminator robot use your recommendations to grasp a real weapon? The possibilities are terrifying.