I think the future is bright and that humanity as a whole trends toward progress and innovation. Like many others of my generation, I grew up knowing that we face plenty of challenges in the near future, from environmental collapse and the rise of artificial intelligence to ongoing persecution and suffering. A reality where society fails to address all of these problems would be unacceptable to the vast majority of people on this planet. Humanity has every reason to unite and overcome these challenges, striving to become an enduring spacefaring civilization. It should not be controversial to suggest that among the legitimate possibilities of the distant future is a technology to reverse death by scanning and emulating the consciousness of a preserved brain.<\/p>\n
What I and others in the brain preservation movement are asking is for humanity to prepare for the potential realization of mind uploading technology by establishing an end-of-life brain preservation procedure today that can be provided by medical institutions across the globe.<\/em><\/p>\n I know from personal experience that the desire for this option can be very strong. Just over two years ago, I was a high school senior, robotics team member, and aspiring aerospace engineer. My excitement after I was accepted to Purdue University, one of my top choices, was overshadowed in a matter of days by an unexpected cancer diagnosis. After a brief recovery allowed me to attend my first year of college, my cancer relapsed and became terminal. If my disease progresses as expected, I will be dead within five years, among the countless people whose futures are eliminated by childhood cancer. Despite its incredible uncertainty, I consider brain preservation a chance to save my future.<\/p>\n The desire for brain preservation is not commonly heard of within the neuroscience and medical communities, where it is often considered laughable at best and dangerous at worst. Despite potentially groundbreaking progress, the stigma surrounding brain preservation has made public discussion about it incredibly difficult.<\/p>\n Brain preservation was abandoned early on and never reconsidered by the scientific community, leaving the space for unregulated private companies to take over instead. It pains me to know that thousands who have been forced to look outside the medical system for brain preservation are signing up for companies that operate in the clear absence of medical accountability, ignore techniques that modern neuroscience suggests would be vastly superior, and are often burdened by legal restrictions that damage preservation quality.<\/p>\n An opportunity exists today for the neuroscience community to assume their roles as relevant professionals and examine the newly invented brain banking technique, aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC). One of their colleagues and co-founder of the Brain Preservation Foundation, Dr. Kenneth Hayworth, has publicly argued for developing ASC into a medical procedure based on the possibility of future revival via brain scanning and mind uploading. Below is a quote I obtained from him to clarify his scientific argument:<\/p>\n The essential claim is that ASC preserves the brain\u2019s connectivity as well as the ultrastructural and molecular features that modern neuroscience theories suggest encode long-term memory. Despite its extraordinary implications, this claim seems straightforward to check given that the ASC protocol was openly published in the scientific literature (McIntyre & Fahy 2018) and given the extensive literature on aldehyde fixation of biomolecules (reviewed in McKenzie 2019). I believe it is the responsibility of the neuroscience community to publicly address this claim and reject or confirm it on clear scientific grounds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Barring a clear reason to reject this possibility, or the realization of a better preservation method, this technique should be developed and legalized as an end-of-life medical option. While modern neuroscience cannot provide a magical answer to what the final outcome of preservation will be, its input is necessary to ensure that the best possible technique is understood well enough to be performed in hospitals and not back alley cryonics facilities. Many terminal patients like me have a fierce desire for an end-of-life procedure that may result in an otherwise impossible future for ourselves. It should not be a difficult decision for the scientific and medical communities to ensure that this final wish is acknowledged and supported rather than denied.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n McIntyre, R. L., & Fahy, G. M. (2015). Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation. Cryobiology, 71(3), 448-458.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S001122401500245X<\/a><\/p>\nReferences<\/h2>\n