Is it possible to keep someone alive forever

But he was still very much interested in the idea that cryonics represented. To stimulate research in this area, Dr. Hayworth founded the Brain Preservation Foundation , and raised funds for prizes meant to drive development of the technology. To win the prize, according to Dr. Hayworth, the entrant had to demonstrate that "the synaptic connectivity of an entire large mammal brain can be preserved. The winner was a group led by Dr. Robert McIntyre , an AI researcher-turned-neurobiologist, who developed a technique to flood the brain of a pig with a chemical called gluteraldehyde.

Gluteraldehyde bonds to the proteins in the brain, fixing the neurons, synapses and most of the large proteins and important molecules in the brain in place. These are, as far as neuroscientists know, all of the important molecules and structures that encode our memory and personality.

If they're preserved, then, at least in theory, all of the information that was encoded in the living brain could also be retained. The brain could then be frozen without damage for long term storage. Canadian neurobiologist Dr. Michael Hendricks , a researcher at McGill University, admits that the technique can likely preserve all the information in a brain, but it's not going to be possible to bring a brain preserved this way back to biological life.

Hayworth agrees, but has a different vision for brain preservation. Because these preserved brains may retain all of the information in a mind, then it could be possible to retrieve that information. The brains could be scanned in 3-D, using something like an electron microscope. This could, in theory, allow all the information in a mind encoded in the biology of the brain to be extracted, and uploaded into a computer. He admits it's hard to overstate how big a job this would be.

Having said that, the revival part is incredibly difficult, just insanely, insanely difficult. The sheer amount of information is overwhelming. That kid was awesome! I wanna be him when I grow up! Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City. With advancing technoliges I say 2 things: 1 I will never get old.

This is why I call my generation the luckiest generation as the advances we will see in the next 15 years will be ineradicable. Originally Posted by Josseppie. Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Additional giveaways are planned. Detailed information about all U. Posting Quick Reply - Please Wait. Search this Thread Advanced Search. Is it possible to be kept alive forever? User Name. Remember Me.

Advanced Search. View detailed profile Advanced or search site with. Search Forums Advanced. When Pyrkov and his colleagues in Moscow and Buffalo, N. In Jeanne Calment, the oldest person on record to have ever lived, died in France at the age of Whitson says that this result makes sense: A healthy young person can produce a rapid physiological response to adjust to fluctuations and restore a personal norm. Measurements such as blood pressure and blood cell counts have a known healthy range, however, Whitson points out, whereas step counts are highly personal.

The fact that Pyrkov and his colleagues chose a variable that is so different from blood counts and still discovered the same decline over time may suggest a real pace-of-aging factor in play across different domains.

The authors pointed to social factors that reflect the findings. But a long life span is not the same as a long health span, says S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who was not involved in the work. And the question is: Can we extend life without also extending the proportion of time that people go through a frail state? Treating diseases in the long run is not going to have the effect that you might want it to have.

These fundamental biological processes of aging are going to continue. The question of whether this will have any impact on the fundamental upper limits identified in the Nature Communications paper remains highly speculative.