Human consciousness is on the verge of a massive qualitative jump. We will soon be able to build machines that can process conscious awareness. This will both free us from the base limitations of mortality, since such consciousness machines can presumably be maintained indefinately or replaced as necessary, and also free us from reproduction as it is currently known, since reproduction becomes an issue of how many copies you want to make and how exactly they should be configured relative to the original. Even more interesting is that this will open up unprecendented abilities to manipulate consciousness and free it from linkage with physical bodies and processes.