“Brain Preservation”, No One Has to Die

 The Bible is clear that it’s appointed for all men to die once, and then the judgment.  The only generation that will avoid this is the generation of Christ followers who are alive when Christ returns to the sky and calls his bride to meet him there.  As a Christ follower, one never dies.  We just go from one reality to another.

But how about the folks who refuse Christ and are terrified of death?  Could they figure out some way to save their brains or download themselves into a computer so that all their thoughts and memories and their personalities could be saved forever?

This article explains a scientist who wants to preserve your brain and hopefully the technology will exist in the future to place it inside a robot.

Mankind seems to be in a battle against death.  Most refuse to believe that Jesus conquered death.  For those who have accepted Christ they were transferred instantly from “the path that leads to eternal death” onto “the path that leads to eternal life.”

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Now, Zeleznikow-Johnston offers an alternative suggestion: aldehyde-stabilised cryopreservation, also known as fixation. “Essentially,” he says, “by introducing chemicals at the opportune moment which preserve the structure of someone’s brain, we can hold onto its circuitry and structures.”

Once frozen, in essence, preserving our identity indefinitely. “In labs, this process of fixation is used routinely with animal research. Developed in 2015, it’s not a complicated procedure and has been tested on large animals and humans, postmortem.”

Two groups on the US west coast, Zeleznikow-Johnston tells me, are on the cusp of offering this to the public. Another in Europe. “It can certainly be done today,” he’s confident, “and in the next year, it’ll be more accessible. It could be rolled out quickly, if there was demand.”

He tots up rough costs in the book’s closing chapters: at today’s prices, roughly $13,000 should pay for the initial preservation procedure. If done at scale, a further $1,300 annually should account for on-going storage and associated admin costs. “I’m not an accountant,” he adds, “but that’s my best estimate.” Small change compared to the cash required for many medical procedures – from cancer therapies to transplants.

But how we might eventually resurrect remains unclear. What use is pressing pause without a restart button? There, he accepts, we’re firmly into the field of sci-fi. Unfazed, Zeleznikow-Johnston opines that major advances in nanomedicine offer one route; else there’s what’s known as mind-uploading, or mind-emulation – transferring someone to a digital form. “Break down the elements and it’s a fairly straightforward extrapolation from today’s technology,” he says. “Take very high resolution scans of brain structure to characterise how someone’s neurons work, recreate it in a digital format then put it in another robotic, virtual or biological body.” Future scientists will need to fill in the details. “Yet if the memories and experiences which define us are held on to, a person has survived. A robotic or digital brain, if done right, I’d argue, is still you.”

If tomorrow, Zeleznikow-Johnston received a terminal diagnosis, he’d eventually undergo the brain preservation procedure. He’d encourage friends and family to follow. “My fear of death hasn’t been assuaged,” he says. “It still scares me. What I’m proposing isn’t magic, even if it comes to fruition.” Countless variables would need to land in our favour: the tech developed and implemented properly. Nuclear war and climate catastrophe avoided. Some future generation opting to offer their distant ancestors another chance at life. “Even with a guarantee of everyone I love returning, I’d still miss them in the short term, but it does provide some comfort. My existential despair that everyone I love will one day disappear hasn’t gone away completely, but it offers a glimmer of hope.”

Still unconvinced? Just look, he urges, to anaesthesia. “Prior to the mid-19th century, if you needed an operation, you just had to cope with the pain. Yes, you could take some herbs, alcohol; maybe opiates if they were available.” Alternatives included what was, ostensibly, strangulation, else delivering a knockout blow to the patient’s head. “This was the case throughout human history, until the discovery of anaesthesia. It was an unprecedented change. No longer did you have to suffer.”

There’s far from consensus on these topics: much is uncharted territory. A newly published survey of 300 neuroscientists found 40% predict brain preservation and restoration will prove possible. Still, Zeleznikow-Johnston is more than prepared to see his entire thesis shot down. “Sceptics should put in the effort to scrutinise and critically appraise my proposal,” he says, “either proving that what I’m advocating for can’t work – in which case I’ll apologise and abandon it – or they’ll realise what I’m suggesting has merit. It’s time to establish an academic consensus on the current and near-term feasibility of brain preservation.” One thing, however, is for certain: in an instant, what was once believed impossible can become just another fact of life.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/dec/01/with-brain-preservation-nobody-has-to-die-meet-the-neuroscientist-who-believes-life-could-be-eternal