PZ Meyers has unreasonably high standards for 'relevant details.' Demanding one millisecond total fixation time (with every atom being in precisely the same position as it was during life) is totally ridiculous. If you want to study intraneuron cell biology, sure, you need that, but for brain emulation, all you care about is the connection-ism of the network, and the long term statistical biases of particular neurons' synaptic connections (plus glial traits, naturally), which is (probably) visible from features many orders of magnitude more durable than the kinds of data he's talking about. Also, his comments about accelerating the speed of the network are kind of bizarrely ignorant, given how smart a guy he clearly is.
The only way the issues he mentions are problematic is if high-detail inter-neuron computing turns out to be necessary AND long-term state dependent, which the evidence suggests against (the blue brain project has produced realistic synchronized firing activity in a simulated neocortical column using relatively simple neuron models).
As far as a reference goes, there's this study, in which they took a rat's brain, vitrified it, and examined it at fine detail, demonstrating "good to excellent" preservation of gross cellular anatomy.
PZ Meyers has unreasonably high standards for 'relevant details.'
Well, he's a developmental biologist specialized in the vertebrate nervous system.
...Demanding one millisecond total fixation time (with every atom being in precisely the same position as it was during life) is totally ridiculous. If you want to study intraneuron cell biology, sure, you need that, but for brain emulation, all you care about is the connection-ism of the network, and the long term statistical biases of particular neurons' synaptic connections (plus glial traits, naturally), w
If you don't believe in an afterlife, then it seems you currently have two choices: cryonics or permanent death. Now, I don't believe that cryonics is pseudoscience, but it's still pretty poor odds (Robin Hanson uses an estimate of 5% here). Unfortunately, the alternative offers a chance of zero. I see five main concerns with current cryonic technology:
So I wonder if we can do better.
I recall reading of juvenile forms of amphibians in desert environments that could survive for decades of drought in a dormant form, reviving when water returned. One specimen had sat on a shelf in a research office for over a century (in Arizona, if I recall correctly) and was successfully revived. Note: no particular efforts were made to maintain this specimen: the dry local climate was sufficient. It was suggested at the time that this could make an alternative method of preserving organs. Now the advantages of this approach (which I refer to flippantly as "dryonics") is:
There is one big disadvantage of this approach, of course: no one knows how to do it (it's not entirely clear how the juvenile amphibians do it) or even if it would be possible in larger, more complex organisms. And, so far as I know, no one is working on it. But it would seem to offer a much better prospect than our current options, so I would suggest it worth investigating.
I am not a biologist, and I'm not sure where one would start developing such a technology. I frankly admit that I am sharing this in the hope that someone who does have an idea will run with it. If anyone knows of any work on these lines, or has an idea how to proceed, please send a comment or email. Or even if you have another alternative. Because right now, I don't consider our prospects good.
[Note: I am going on memory in this post; I really wish I could provide references, but there does not seem much activity along these lines that I can find. I'm not even sure what to call it: mummification? Probably too scary. Dehydration? Anyway feel free to add suggestions or link references.]