Hope Drop #31: Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston | The Future Loves You

“As long as someone’s memories and personality are intact, the person has not truly died… If we can preserve that information, their identity could theoretically continue.”

In this edition of the Hope Drop, we dive into a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, neuroscientist and author of The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death. Ariel explores the science and philosophy of brain preservation, questioning long-held beliefs about life, death, and personal identity.

Join us as we explore how neuroscience might redefine what it means to truly live—and challenge assumptions around mortality. For more insights, listen to the podcast episode and stay subscribed for future updates!

Ariel’s Recommended Resources

• The Future Loves You: How And Why We Should Abolish Death –  Dr. Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, set to be released on November 28, 2024.

• Brain Preservation Foundation - An organization that has existed for about 10-15 years, focusing on brain preservation techniques.

• Being Mortal - A book by Atul Gawande, an American doctor, focusing on palliative care and medicine.

• Terra Ignota Tetralogy - A science fiction series by Ada Palmer, set in the 2200s, depicting a flourishing but complex future society.

• Uncle Tom's Cabin - Mentioned as an example of literature that helped build empathy and momentum against slavery.

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Ariel’s Vision for the Future

Ariel's eucatastrophe envisions a future where brain preservation technologies are fully integrated into the medical system. This would allow individuals nearing the end of life to choose preservation at a critical stage, with the possibility of future revival. Hospitals and hospices would incorporate advanced brain preservation facilities, storing preserved individuals in dedicated warehouses. Ariel imagines a future where the political will exists to develop and implement these technologies at scale, ensuring affordable and accessible procedures for all who elect to use them. With this system in place, the cost would be manageable, around $10,000 per procedure and a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for annual storage. This vision represents a hopeful convergence of technology, healthcare, and societal support.

Xhope Library Recommendations

• The Fable of the Dragon Tyrant - Nick Bostrom. Much-cherished fairy-tale-like story illustrating the loss incurred by aging and our deathist acceptance.

• Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution - Ronald Bailey. A moral argument in favor of advancing biotechnology.

• Childhood’s End - Arthur C. Clarke. Fictional account of the end of death.

• Crazy Ideas for Future Synbio & Bioengineering - Stephen Malina. Lists potential future goals and applications in biotechnology.

• The Hedonistic Imperative - David Pearce. A manifesto-like book on the benefits of biotech, neurotech, and similar technologies to enable humans escape our hedonic treadmill. 

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Community Updates

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The 2024 Progress Conference brought together ambitious minds to reimagine positive futures. Beatrice Erkers and Allison Duettmann led an Existential Hope session, asking: 'How can we make the future cool again?' In an era of dystopian narratives, they explored how optimistic sci-fi can reignite our appetite for progress. Stay updated on recordings from the Progress conference here.

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In Machines of Loving Grace, Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic) presents “a vision of a world that is both plausible if everything goes right with AI, and much better than the world today”. It includes:

“The defeat of most diseases, the growth in biological and cognitive freedom, the lifting of billions of people out of poverty to share in the new technologies, a renaissance of liberal democracy and human rights.”

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The Qualia Research Institute had recently released its work modeling "cessations" – advanced meditation states where consciousness blinks out for a moment, which you can read about here. This work draws from research findings from their High Energy Awareness Research Team, a group of experienced psychonauts with a technical background in meditation, physics, and visual art, who got together last year in order to model exotic states of consciousness. This team plays with the premise that we are likely to find key hints about how the mind works by exploring its "high energy states", much akin to how in physics particle accelerators generate crucial empirical data to test models and theories.

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ALLFED (Alliance To Feed The Earth In Disasters) are looking for research volunteers for food security during global catastrophes.

Their goal is to ensure feeding all and preserving biodiversity in catastrophe, via planning, collaboration, and research.

Opportunities include participating in collaborative meetings, applying creative thinking, gaining experience in publishing peer-reviewed papers, and conducting project-specific tasks. View their database for instructions and application link.

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