#27 The mind-blowing science to bring you back from death - neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow‑Johnston

When is someone really dead? What does it mean to survive? Is mind-uploading really a possible future way of surviving? These are some of the questions we are discussing with Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston.

Dr Ariel Zeleznikow‑Johnston is a neuroscientist and Research Fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, whose work delves into the neural basis of consciousness - from understanding how genetics and environment shape cognition to exploring the subtle qualities of perceptual experience such as color qualia. A 2019 PhD graduate from The University of Melbourne, he has published extensively on how cognitive function changes across the lifespan.

He is the author of The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death, which advocates for brain preservation technology as a means to suspend death and revive individuals in the future.

Check out Peter's review of the book here: https://reachlevity.com/p/a-clear-case-for-cryonics-a-review-of-the-future-loves-you

His multidisciplinary approach combines rigorous neuroscience with philosophy and ethics, positioning him at the forefront of contemporary debates about identity, mortality, and the future of human life.

🔍 In this conversation:

✅ When do we consider someone to be dead?

✅ What is vitrifixation?

✅ Cryonics.

✅ Palliative philosophy.

✅ Personal identity and the connectome.

✅ Are neurons the same over time?

✅ Teleportation as a test of the information view of personhood.

✅ How do we make the future love us?

✅ Survival and medical priorities.

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🚀 Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com

🚀 LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.

CHAPTER

00:00 Intro

03:45 Jonathan is 190-years-old

07:00 Learned helplessness

10:00 Incoherent medical strategies

11:30 Aging is unhealthy

14:22 Palliative philosophy

20:44 The book in brief - how to cheat death

23:30 Different ways of biostasis - vitrifixation

35:01 Digital snap-shot emulation of our essense

37:59 What is a person? Connectome preservation

43:30 Do neurons stay the same over a life?

47:00 Is mind-uploading preserving personal identity?

01:03:52 We are not our brain - is the connectome model a dualist view?

01:07:50 Teleportation and survival I

01:14:19 Duplicate myself to increase utility

01:15:31 Teleportation and survival II

01:24:30 "Dead people" may not be dead

01:33:30 Saving lives by biostasis brainpreservation

01:36:04 Priority of medicine

01:38:05 Saving everyone that can be saved

01:40:07 Justice and survival - an unusual angle

01:43:36 What kind of world will we wake up to?

01:44:48 How to make the future love us

01:44:59 What are the odds of today's cryonics working?

01:49:10 What year is resurrection?

01:56:33 Ariel's book recommendations

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📕 Check out Patrick's book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543163/the-case-against-death/

📗 Check out Peter's book (only available in Swedish): https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/evigt-ung-min-och-manniskans-drom-om-ododligheten-9789179652524

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Show notes for this episode will be available soon after this airs. Sign up for the LEVITY newsletter to get them straight to your inbox: reachlevity.com/subscribe

LEVITY is co-hosted by Patrick Linden, philosopher and author, and Peter Ottsjö, journalist and author.

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