it is wonderful to be alive life is an
amazing experience full of discoveries
and excitement but we never want for
this to end
unfortunately sometimes things don’t go
according to plan
let me tell you the story of the
remarkable Kim swoozie she was working
at cognitive sciences when she was
diagnosed with a particularly aggressive
type of brain tumor she underwent
treatment trying to extend her life but
in the end she sadly passed away at the
age of 23 what is particularly
remarkable about Kim however is what she
s months of her life because she decided
that when she died she did to be cried
preserved she was to be kept at low
temperature in one of this containers
that you see in the background until one
day 50 100 thousand years from now
medical technology will be advanced
enough for her to be brought back to
life what is equally remarkable is that
she could not afford this and so she
embarked on an online crowdfunding
campaign which thankfully managed to
gather enough donations for her to be
crowd reserved
now of course she’s not an only case
there are now over 300 people
cryopreserved and hundreds more signed
up this include Robert Angier he was the
first one to propose this concept of
cryonics that the seizing of dividuals
be preserved the low temperatures in
hope one day medical technology can make
them healthy again there’s also a number
of young people arrive reserved there
was a very high-profile case for example
of the 14 year old British teenage girl
also suffering from terminal cancer who
appealed to a high court for the right
to be cryo served so why do people do
this why be crime preserved well
cryonics patients they love life and by
being quite preserved it gives them a
chance a whole
of one day being brought back to life
living another life by contrast if you
are cremated or buried then you’ll be
dead forever it equals eternal oblivion
so what exactly does cryonics entail
well first of all and contrary to
popular perception chronics is not about
freezing people in traditional freezing
ice forms which expands and you have
this sharp ice crystals that burst cells
and cause all kinds of molecular damage
and so in chronics a procedure called
vitrification is used now vitrification
literally means turn to class
essentially water that is blood and
water inside the cells of patients is
replaced by cryoprotectant that is a
medical grade antifreeze and as
temperature drops and the concentration
of the antifreeze increases it becomes
very viscous until it turns to glass
turns into this amorphous form sometimes
referred to as a solid liquid then
temperature continues to drop until
minus 196 degrees Celsius and that is
the temperature of liquid nitrogen in
which patients are preserved now as such
more temperatures biological processes
came to a complete standstill and so
patients could be kept there
indefinitely now in some cases as it was
Kim Suzie’s case only the head is quite
reserved rationale being that in a far
future where medical technology can
bring such patients back to life then
creating a new body will not be
problematic
now if the concept of vitrification is
new to you I should emphasize that this
is already widely used across many areas
so we can safely and reversibly Verta
Phi human cells small tissues and even
human embryos in fact vitrification is
widely used in fertility clinics there’s
actually a good possibility that some
people here today were once quite
preserved although admittedly at a very
early stage of development where they
were just at
the embryo it is also possible to
vitrify small animals like for example
worms and in mammals it is possible to
vitrify small animal organs like for
example rabbit kidneys and brain slices
so this can be safely vitrified then
rewarmed and retained their function now
that is the current state of the art and
although that is impressive it is still
quite far from the truth flying all
human organs it’s primarily an issue of
size with human organs roger organs they
take the longer to cool down and so more
damage can accumulate in particularly
damage from the antifreeze so antifreeze
is generally harmless that’s why it is
used to preserve human embryos but at
very high concentrations and relatively
high temperatures and prolonged
exposures it can become toxic as a well
fitted fine larger human organs
substantial damage occurs and that is
why it’s still not possible to vitrify
human heart or kidney or livers so when
you extrapolate that to chronics it is
clear that extensive damage occurs in
cryonics including in the brain that is
why most scientists myself included are
sceptic about the chances of cryonics
patients ever being brought back to life
but they fully ignored that
so Kim she felt the chances of ever
being alive or maybe one or two percent
now someone said that’s optimistic
others who say it’s pessimistic the
point is that cryonics patients fully
acknowledge that this is a gamble but in
their view it is a worthwhile gamble now
the argument is that if your crime
preserved and it works then it’s amazing
you get to live another life in the
future if he fails though it will remain
that forever but if you know preserved
if you’re buried or cremated
you will also be dead forever and so
they argue it is a reasonable gamble now
there is a financial cost to cryonics so
he was a she paid eighty thousand
dollars to be
preserved some companies charge more
others charge less but it will still be
a significant financial investment of
course that is not for everyone and I
should say at this stage that I am
personally not signed up for cryonics I
have two little girls and if I were to
die tomorrow I rather leave the money to
them but I would add that if I were a
millionaire I would sign up for cryonics
because then financial costs will be
negligible so what would I have to lose
now cryonics patients also point out
that we cannot really evaluate cryonics
now because it depends on future
technologies for example nanotechnology
the idea that one day in the future
we’ll be able to construct tiny
molecular machines that go inside the
brain and repair the damage from the
cryopreservation now of course we don’t
know if that’s going to be possible or
not because that depends on future
technologies but it does raise an
interesting question which is how much
damage must there occur for the
information of the minds the memories
and personality to be lost beyond
recovery and does that damage occur in
cryonics unfortunately we don’t know
some granites patients argue however
that it may be possible in the future to
scan the brain at such level of detail
and precision that it can be replicated
on a computer you could have your mind
running your computer also known as mind
uploading now I have to say I’m not
convinced by that not the technology
behind it very optimistic about
technology and I’m not convinced because
even if they were possible today if you
could run my mind on a computer that
wouldn’t be mean it would be copy of me
just like a twin brother is a copy of
your DNA but it’s not you and so I’m
much more interested in biological
revival in that context there’s been
exciting research done in cryo biology
in general in the study of life at low
temperatures for example there are
animals like the wood frog
that can survive considerable freezing
during winter and they’re fine in spring
and they can go through this freeze and
thaw cycles many years so some of these
species they have their own antifreeze
like antifreeze proteins and so
scientists are studying them hopefully
that we can learn some new trick that we
can then apply to human crop reservation
there’s also various studies including
by my own lab of antifreeze toxicity if
we can better understand why antifreeze
is toxic then we may be able to
neutralize it and therefore improve
quite preservation protocols now one
thing that is important to emphasize is
that preservation has very broad an
important impact in particularly medical
sciences so quiet preservation of stem
cells and engineered tissues is a very
timely area in particularly in
regenerative medicine and if we could
safely reverse require preserve human
organs this would be a huge breakthrough
because we would be able to build banks
of organs for transplantation which
would be family and would save countless
lives ultimately we want to perfect the
current preservation methods to the
point of crime preserving whole human
beings or human medical bio stasis or
suspended animation that would be eaten
completely danger you would have
applications in areas like space
exploration and of course in medicine
for terminal patients like Kim swoozie
now going back to kim we can understand
motivations for someone wanting to be
cry preserved when her life was cut so
short but what is a normal life if you
look a life expectancy in the last
century and a half or so a hundred and
fifty years ago life expectancy was 45
years now thanks to various
technological breakthroughs that had
increased and continues to increase and
in fact this is the best time in history
to be alive now just from a life
expectancy and health perspective but
from a perspective of peace prosperity
and of course all of the amazing
technologies we have at our disposal if
you went back 150 years and you said
look in the future you’re going to be
able to access all human knowledge all
ebooks from a little box you can carry
in your pocket nobody would believe you
and 150 years ago if your heart stopped
you’d be dead now of course we can
resist it
it’s from cardiac arrest so there’s been
huge technological breakthroughs in a
short time span and even the concept of
death has changed thanks to advances in
technology and now if couldn’t trance
hold then the future is going to far be
far better than the present for example
at level of aging we now know it is
possible to manipulate the process of
aging we can genetically engineer
animals to live 10 times longer than
normal and we can rejuvenate mice with
genetic engineering techniques now I’m
not saying any of that will happen
anytime soon in human beings what I’m
saying is when you’re looking 50 a
hundred a thousand years ahead then we
may be living much longer lives with
amazing technologies and with that in
mind crowning’s
or as we perfect representation methods
towards human medical bio stasis then
this could be seen as a bridge to the
future and if the future is one of
living hundreds of years without aging
without diseases with technology is so
amazing we cannot even foresee them now
then please sign me up because that’s
the kind of future I would like to live
in because it is wonderful to be alive
thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
amazing experience full of discoveries
and excitement but we never want for
this to end
unfortunately sometimes things don’t go
according to plan
let me tell you the story of the
remarkable Kim swoozie she was working
at cognitive sciences when she was
diagnosed with a particularly aggressive
type of brain tumor she underwent
treatment trying to extend her life but
in the end she sadly passed away at the
age of 23 what is particularly
remarkable about Kim however is what she
s months of her life because she decided
that when she died she did to be cried
preserved she was to be kept at low
temperature in one of this containers
that you see in the background until one
day 50 100 thousand years from now
medical technology will be advanced
enough for her to be brought back to
life what is equally remarkable is that
she could not afford this and so she
embarked on an online crowdfunding
campaign which thankfully managed to
gather enough donations for her to be
crowd reserved
now of course she’s not an only case
there are now over 300 people
cryopreserved and hundreds more signed
up this include Robert Angier he was the
first one to propose this concept of
cryonics that the seizing of dividuals
be preserved the low temperatures in
hope one day medical technology can make
them healthy again there’s also a number
of young people arrive reserved there
was a very high-profile case for example
of the 14 year old British teenage girl
also suffering from terminal cancer who
appealed to a high court for the right
to be cryo served so why do people do
this why be crime preserved well
cryonics patients they love life and by
being quite preserved it gives them a
chance a whole
of one day being brought back to life
living another life by contrast if you
are cremated or buried then you’ll be
dead forever it equals eternal oblivion
so what exactly does cryonics entail
well first of all and contrary to
popular perception chronics is not about
freezing people in traditional freezing
ice forms which expands and you have
this sharp ice crystals that burst cells
and cause all kinds of molecular damage
and so in chronics a procedure called
vitrification is used now vitrification
literally means turn to class
essentially water that is blood and
water inside the cells of patients is
replaced by cryoprotectant that is a
medical grade antifreeze and as
temperature drops and the concentration
of the antifreeze increases it becomes
very viscous until it turns to glass
turns into this amorphous form sometimes
referred to as a solid liquid then
temperature continues to drop until
minus 196 degrees Celsius and that is
the temperature of liquid nitrogen in
which patients are preserved now as such
more temperatures biological processes
came to a complete standstill and so
patients could be kept there
indefinitely now in some cases as it was
Kim Suzie’s case only the head is quite
reserved rationale being that in a far
future where medical technology can
bring such patients back to life then
creating a new body will not be
problematic
now if the concept of vitrification is
new to you I should emphasize that this
is already widely used across many areas
so we can safely and reversibly Verta
Phi human cells small tissues and even
human embryos in fact vitrification is
widely used in fertility clinics there’s
actually a good possibility that some
people here today were once quite
preserved although admittedly at a very
early stage of development where they
were just at
the embryo it is also possible to
vitrify small animals like for example
worms and in mammals it is possible to
vitrify small animal organs like for
example rabbit kidneys and brain slices
so this can be safely vitrified then
rewarmed and retained their function now
that is the current state of the art and
although that is impressive it is still
quite far from the truth flying all
human organs it’s primarily an issue of
size with human organs roger organs they
take the longer to cool down and so more
damage can accumulate in particularly
damage from the antifreeze so antifreeze
is generally harmless that’s why it is
used to preserve human embryos but at
very high concentrations and relatively
high temperatures and prolonged
exposures it can become toxic as a well
fitted fine larger human organs
substantial damage occurs and that is
why it’s still not possible to vitrify
human heart or kidney or livers so when
you extrapolate that to chronics it is
clear that extensive damage occurs in
cryonics including in the brain that is
why most scientists myself included are
sceptic about the chances of cryonics
patients ever being brought back to life
but they fully ignored that
so Kim she felt the chances of ever
being alive or maybe one or two percent
now someone said that’s optimistic
others who say it’s pessimistic the
point is that cryonics patients fully
acknowledge that this is a gamble but in
their view it is a worthwhile gamble now
the argument is that if your crime
preserved and it works then it’s amazing
you get to live another life in the
future if he fails though it will remain
that forever but if you know preserved
if you’re buried or cremated
you will also be dead forever and so
they argue it is a reasonable gamble now
there is a financial cost to cryonics so
he was a she paid eighty thousand
dollars to be
preserved some companies charge more
others charge less but it will still be
a significant financial investment of
course that is not for everyone and I
should say at this stage that I am
personally not signed up for cryonics I
have two little girls and if I were to
die tomorrow I rather leave the money to
them but I would add that if I were a
millionaire I would sign up for cryonics
because then financial costs will be
negligible so what would I have to lose
now cryonics patients also point out
that we cannot really evaluate cryonics
now because it depends on future
technologies for example nanotechnology
the idea that one day in the future
we’ll be able to construct tiny
molecular machines that go inside the
brain and repair the damage from the
cryopreservation now of course we don’t
know if that’s going to be possible or
not because that depends on future
technologies but it does raise an
interesting question which is how much
damage must there occur for the
information of the minds the memories
and personality to be lost beyond
recovery and does that damage occur in
cryonics unfortunately we don’t know
some granites patients argue however
that it may be possible in the future to
scan the brain at such level of detail
and precision that it can be replicated
on a computer you could have your mind
running your computer also known as mind
uploading now I have to say I’m not
convinced by that not the technology
behind it very optimistic about
technology and I’m not convinced because
even if they were possible today if you
could run my mind on a computer that
wouldn’t be mean it would be copy of me
just like a twin brother is a copy of
your DNA but it’s not you and so I’m
much more interested in biological
revival in that context there’s been
exciting research done in cryo biology
in general in the study of life at low
temperatures for example there are
animals like the wood frog
that can survive considerable freezing
during winter and they’re fine in spring
and they can go through this freeze and
thaw cycles many years so some of these
species they have their own antifreeze
like antifreeze proteins and so
scientists are studying them hopefully
that we can learn some new trick that we
can then apply to human crop reservation
there’s also various studies including
by my own lab of antifreeze toxicity if
we can better understand why antifreeze
is toxic then we may be able to
neutralize it and therefore improve
quite preservation protocols now one
thing that is important to emphasize is
that preservation has very broad an
important impact in particularly medical
sciences so quiet preservation of stem
cells and engineered tissues is a very
timely area in particularly in
regenerative medicine and if we could
safely reverse require preserve human
organs this would be a huge breakthrough
because we would be able to build banks
of organs for transplantation which
would be family and would save countless
lives ultimately we want to perfect the
current preservation methods to the
point of crime preserving whole human
beings or human medical bio stasis or
suspended animation that would be eaten
completely danger you would have
applications in areas like space
exploration and of course in medicine
for terminal patients like Kim swoozie
now going back to kim we can understand
motivations for someone wanting to be
cry preserved when her life was cut so
short but what is a normal life if you
look a life expectancy in the last
century and a half or so a hundred and
fifty years ago life expectancy was 45
years now thanks to various
technological breakthroughs that had
increased and continues to increase and
in fact this is the best time in history
to be alive now just from a life
expectancy and health perspective but
from a perspective of peace prosperity
and of course all of the amazing
technologies we have at our disposal if
you went back 150 years and you said
look in the future you’re going to be
able to access all human knowledge all
ebooks from a little box you can carry
in your pocket nobody would believe you
and 150 years ago if your heart stopped
you’d be dead now of course we can
resist it
it’s from cardiac arrest so there’s been
huge technological breakthroughs in a
short time span and even the concept of
death has changed thanks to advances in
technology and now if couldn’t trance
hold then the future is going to far be
far better than the present for example
at level of aging we now know it is
possible to manipulate the process of
aging we can genetically engineer
animals to live 10 times longer than
normal and we can rejuvenate mice with
genetic engineering techniques now I’m
not saying any of that will happen
anytime soon in human beings what I’m
saying is when you’re looking 50 a
hundred a thousand years ahead then we
may be living much longer lives with
amazing technologies and with that in
mind crowning’s
or as we perfect representation methods
towards human medical bio stasis then
this could be seen as a bridge to the
future and if the future is one of
living hundreds of years without aging
without diseases with technology is so
amazing we cannot even foresee them now
then please sign me up because that’s
the kind of future I would like to live
in because it is wonderful to be alive
thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
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