The Arrest of Biological Time as a Bridge to Engineered Negligible Senescence

Abstract

Biological systems can remain unchanged for several hundred years at cryogenic temperatures. In several hundred years, current rapid scientific and technical progress should lead to the ability to reverse any biological damage whose reversal is not forbidden by physical law. We therefore explore whether contemporary people facing terminal conditions might be preserved well enough today for their eventual recovery to be compatible with physical law. The ultrastructure of the brain can now be excellently preserved by vitrification, and solutions needed for vitrification can now be distributed through organs with retention of organ viability after transplantation. Current law requires a few minutes of cardiac arrest before cryopreservation of terminal patients, but dogs and cats have recovered excellent brain function after 16-60 min of complete cerebral ischemia. The arrest of biological time as a bridge to engineered negligible senescence, therefore, appears consistent with current scientific and medical knowledge.

Ultrastructural Characterization of Prolonged Normothermic and Cold Cerebral Ischemia in the Adult Rat

“…Information-theoretic death is also relevant to the emerging field of human cryopreservation (i.e., cryonics) in which a deceased person is stabilized at cryogenic temperatures to permit future medical treatment at the molecular level. [46][47][48][49] Limitations and future research Two-dimensional characterization of the structure of cells, organelles, and two distinct CNS anatomical features of the brain have formed the focus of our studies. Scientific understanding of the exact relationship between the persistence of two-dimensional structures and the overall ''wiring'' of the brain is still largely unknown.…”

Industrial Biotechnology Conservation Processes: Similarities with Natural Long-Term Preservation of Biological Organisms

“…When considering freezing tolerance of whole biological organisms, relatively few natural examples have been reported to date (e.g., snails, frogs; Figure S2 ). However, the bioinspired technical possibility of restoring metabolic activity following a defined cryogenic state continuously motivates advocates of lifespan extension by cryonics [ 48 ]. Notably, small multicellular organisms such as daphnia, bdelloid rotifers, or tardigrades have been reported to withstand long-term freezing, possibly by producing or storing high levels of trehalose, which acts as a natural cryoprotectant, and by using alternative mechanisms ( Figure S2 ) [ 8 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ].…”

An Intellectual History of Cannibalism

“…Modern science may have occupied the gap left by the departure of philosophy and theology, but the ethical and philosophical dimensions have not melted away. ‘Resurrection’, or rather ‘reanimation’, is at the centre of the practices of cryonicists who keep the brain of ‘deceased’ individuals in a condition of frozen suspension, waiting for a time when technologies can revivify the whole person (Lemler et al. 2004).…”