People will be able to buy new memories and delete unwanted ones in the near future as experts believe they are close to biohacking the body's most powerful tool, according to a leading technology entrepreneur.

Speaking at Lisbon's Web Summit, Bryan Johnson, the founder of Kernel – a start-up researching the possibilities of microchips being inserted on the brain – says unlocking the true potential of the mind is the "single greatest thing" humanity can achieve.

Kernel's first step is to design chips that can help fight disease, but then it hopes to evolve the brain to offer superhuman abilities.

The firm's website reads: "To further explore our own human boundaries, a wave of new technologies needs to emerge that can access, read, and write from the most powerful tool we have — the human brain.