In David's life so far, he has read literally hundreds of books about the future. Yet none has had such a provocative title as this: “The future loves you: How and why we should abolish death”. That’s the title of the book written by the guest in this episode, Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston. Ariel is a neuroscientist, and a Research Fellow at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia. One of the key ideas in Ariel’s book is that so long as your connectome – the full set of the synapses in your brain – continues to exist, then you continue to exist. Ariel also claims that brain preservation – the preservation of the connectome, long after we have stopped breathing – is already affordable enough to be provided to essentially everyone. These claims raise all kinds of questions, which are addressed in this conversation. Selected follow-ups: Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston - personal website Book webpage - includes details of when Ariel is speaking in the UK and elsewhere Monash Neuroscience of Consciousness Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest - Wikipedia Sentience and the Origins of Consciousness - article by Karl Friston that mentions bacteria List of advisors to Conscium Does the UK use £15,000, £30,000 or a £70,000 per QALY cost effectiveness threshold? by Jason Shafrin Researchers simulate an entire fly brain on a laptop. Is a human brain next? - US Berkeley News What are memories made of? A survey of neuroscientists on the structural basis of long-term memory - Preprint by Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, Emil Kendziora, and Andrew McKenzie Related previous episodes: Ep 91: The low-cost future of preserving brains , with Jordan Sparks Ep 77: The case for brain preservation , with Kenneth Hayworth Music: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration How Hacks Happen Hacks, scams, cyber crimes, and other shenanigans explored and explained. Presented... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify PodMatch PodMatch Automatically Matches Ideal Podcast Guests and Hosts For Interviews
