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Towards a more accurate definition of death

brainpreservation.github.io · 9,820 words · saved by 1 readers

Our society’s definition of death has shifted over time. It depends upon the available medical technology, such as CPR and artificial respiration. In the future, the definition of death will almost certainly be different than it is today. One possible improved definition of death would be when the information in the person’s brain that they value is irreversibly lost, which is known as information-theoretic death or total death. A more accurate definition of death also requires distinguishing living and dying as distinct processes. It is already possible for life to be briefly paused without causing information-theoretic death, for example as sometimes occurs with cardiac arrest. Pausing life for an extended period without causing information-theoretic death could potentially be done with a long-term preservation procedure that is known to be reversible. This would be long-term suspended animation. No such technology exists today. Pausing life without causing information-theoretic deat

Towards a more accurate definition of death Towards a more accurate definition of death By: Andrew McKenzie; Last Major Update: 2022-01-23; Status: Draft Summary What is death? A brief history of declaring death Summary of possible states in the dying process Information-theoretic death Is it possible to pause life without causing information-theoretic death? Pausing electrical activity Is it possible to pause neural activity while retaining long-term cognitive functions? Is it possible to pause biological time while retaining long-term memories? Summary of pausing life while retaining cogniti

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