Company in new bid to resurrect frozen brains

[UM-Bot]

Humai is aiming to make it possible to freeze someone's brain and resurrect them again within 30 years.

The idea of freezing someone's remains upon death in the hope that they can be brought back to life in the future is nothing new, but now Los-Angeles startup company Humai, which is aiming to freeze only the brain, believes that it will be able to resurrect someone within as little as 30 years by transferring their consciousness in to an artificial body so that they can effectively live forever.

Read More: http://www.unexplain...t-frozen-brains

[McNessy]

Futurama and the heads in the jars come to mind here LOL

[Lilly]

Ok, just how do these people know that consciousness can be reclaimed via frozen brain tissue? The nature of consciousness is not completely understood. Also, the android body that's 'just like a human' has yet to be developed. If this is even possible it's far, far in the future.

Edited November 29, 2015 by Lilly
typo

[Border Collie]

Yes, Obviously they can freeze and thaw a brain. I have never heard a definition of consciousness that would permit it to be identified, let alone transferred.

This one is pure fantasy.

[Hugh]

It sounds like they'll trick people into thinking this works because they'll have years of tracking the person's activities to go by to use as a reference.

A computer will simulate a voice, saying things that the person would have likely said, like;

"Whoa, this feels really weird, but I'm here, still alive!"

"Hey Aunt May, how are you?" (a relative they talked to a lot)

"I'd like to eat a steak." (their favorite food)

"How are the Falcons doing?" (their favorite team)

They'll use some sort of Artificial Intelligence program to simulate the person's apparent reactions and thoughts, based on all the previously acquired data, and some will actually believe that this works.

I don't think it will though, well, not in the next 30 years, perhaps in the distant future though.

[Chibadiba]

Looks like we'll have more Disney movies soon;)

[Infernal Gnu]

It sounds like they'll trick people into thinking this works because they'll have years of tracking the person's activities to go by to use as a reference.

A computer will simulate a voice, saying things that the person would have likely said, like;

"Whoa, this feels really weird, but I'm here, still alive!"

"Hey Aunt May, how are you?" (a relative they talked to a lot)

"I'd like to eat a steak." (their favorite food)

"How are the Falcons doing?" (their favorite team)

They'll use some sort of Artificial Intelligence program to simulate the person's apparent reactions and thoughts, based on all the previously acquired data, and some will actually believe that this works.

I don't think it will though, well, not in the next 30 years, perhaps in the distant future though.

I had maternal grandparents that I really loved and would love to have A.I. android versions of them around where they would forever appear to be around say, 70 years old, but unfortunately an extensive database on their behavior and thought patterns is not available. I would have to have some non-A.I. security drones around in case my grandparentbots went berserk and tried to attack me.

[Galactic Goatman]

@Lilly: Exactly, as far as we know, the consciousness doesn't have an organ dedicated to its use, we're not even entirely sure what it is. Even if a brain survives being on ice for 3 decades, all your going to wind up with is a soggy mass of tissue. Maybe you will get some isolated memories (assuming memories are actually a part of the mind, and not just the actions of neurons) but there would be nothing equating a consciousness. It would be like trying to rebuild a computer from its memory card.

[Patient Zero]

Yeeeah, if you own stock in this company, don't hold on to it too tightly. i say, sell it and invest in a safe bet, like Enron.

[TheGreatBeliever]

Then i wanna be a six footer at 200 lbs

[pallidin]

If I may, cryogenics used for potential human life-suspension has one problem:

Currently, if I recall correctly (??) medical science, though not at direct odds with cryogenic theory, has stated that the optimum state of cryogenics is to employ it "while the human tissues are still alive"

This makes perfect sense to me, but also creates a bad legal problem... In order for cryogenics to optimally have the possibilty to work, the facility must, effectually, freeze that person to death!

In other words, medical science suggests that cryogenics will NOT work if done AFTER death, which is what they do now.

For those of you that know, cryogenic death is illegal in at least the U.S. and constitutes mitigated murder.

If you are already dead it's fine, but science suggests (??) that that is not optimal and may not work.

Remember the cryogenic studies involving mice? They were not dead, first, at all. They were frozen alive.

That technique is currently illegal for humans (in the U.S.)

If you freeze a previously dead creature and then "thaw them out" guess what? They are still dead.

[pallidin]

If the viewers here wonder "What is the difference, freezing before death and freezing after death?"

The answer is cellular decay, be it in the brain or elsewhere. Decay starts to happen somewhat quickly once the blood supply (and other lifelines) is shut down. Significant cellular damage can present within as little as 3-minutes, sometimes 10, sometimes an hour or more.

This cellular damage is MASSIVE. It's not a single cell... it's billions.

A goal of current legal cryogenics is to present the human in the cryogenic environment as soon as possible after death.

This gives the most hope. But can that work?

Medically, cryogenics is optimized if done while the creature is "still alive"; abrogating some forms of cell damage.

[equus hemionus]

I have a suspicion that this has already happened to me. I get chills when I read about politics and science. Those are not chills of excitment.