Cheating Death: More Ways To Live Forever

by Graham Pierrepoint

One News Page has previously reported on a number of firms and people that are looking into what appears to be a genuine concern in 2016 — living beyond the confines of death. We have previously reported on firms that plan to allow you to upload your personality and brain into an avatar for future use, and on a facility that enables you to freeze yourself in anticipation of a cure for old age and other terminal illnesses — and it seems that these facilities are not alone in their want to try and extend the human experience. After all, in an age where we have so much virtual control over aspects of our lives that were previously left to chance, it’s understandable that so many people are eager to try and beat the grim reaper at his own game!

According to the Daily Mail, a company based in the US known as Bioquark looks set to investigate the phenomenon of ‘brain death’ — where by definition and law the human brain irreversibly loses function — which is often underlined as the official moment of passing away in many countries the world over. The healthcare organization is keen to begin trials in the next year to start investigating how the effects of brain death could potentially be reversed — it’s perhaps a bizarre and maybe even unthinkable or incomprehensible concept for some, but Bioquark head Ira Pastor is keen to discover if humanity is now able to ‘push the envelope’ and see if death can finally be overcome.

Mr Pastor is on the advisory board of a project known as ReAnima, which aims to explore the medical options available for potentially reversing brain death in its entirety — and it has been stated that a number of participants have been lined up for a detailed study in the near future, using a sample of people having been declared brain dead from brain injuries described as traumatic, and using techniques such as lasers, nerve stimulation and even stem cell technology in an attempt to see if the ‘wall’ of brain death can actually be leapt over.

It is incredible to imagine that we are witnessing confidence in such technology at this relatively early point in human civilization — and, in line with other facilities and projects lined up to help prolong human life, it will be intriguing to see just how far this project can go in reversing what has long been our longest inevitability.