Created by Dr. Martine Rothblatt and modeled after her wife, Bina Aspen, Bina48 is a robot, or “cyber-human” that can mimic human emotions and movements, and even tell jokes.

Dr. Rothblatt, the CEO of biotech outfit United Therapeutics, envisions a future where we will all have “mind clones” — fully functional machines modeled on our individual beings that are capable of executing the same tasks that we regularly carry out.

According to Rothblatt, the extremely lifelike robot cost $125,000 and can even hold complex conversations with humans.

Bina48 has, in fact, even been interviewed by The New York Times. When asked by NYT, “What is it like to be a robot?”, she said, “Um, I have some thoughts on that. Even if I appear clueless, perhaps I’m not. You can see through the strange shadow self, my future self. The self in the future where I’m truly awakened. And so in a sense this robot, me, I am just a portal.”

When Bina’s mortal self dies, Rothblatt said the robot version of her wife will live on, making it possible for “our identity to begin to transcend our bodies”, truly making humans immortal.

Read more at the Indian Express.