Advancing the science and the standards of whole-brain preservation — so that, one day, choosing preservation after legal death can be a validated medical option.
Modern neuroscience holds that our memories, personality, and identity are encoded primarily in the physical pattern of connections between neurons — the connectome — together with finer molecular details at each synapse. If that structure can be reliably preserved after death, the information that makes a person who they are need not be lost.
Our central objective is to promote validated scientific research and technical-services development in the field of whole-brain preservation for long-term storage, and to advocate for the guidelines, policies, and access that will raise the quality of the brain-preservation choice.
In 2010 we asked a concrete, falsifiable question: is it possible to preserve an entire brain so well that every neuronal process and synaptic connection remains intact and traceable under electron microscopy? To answer it, we offered a $100,000 Brain Preservation Prize. The prize was won in full in 2018 with the development of aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC), independently verified by our judging committee. The open scientific question of whether high-quality whole-brain preservation is achievable now has an evidence-based answer: yes.
We believe that people should have the right to choose preservation at the end of life, and that this choice — made freely, and without harming others — deserves respect. We are not advocating that everyone make this choice. How we approach death is deeply personal. But for those who wish it, we believe there are now good scientific grounds for taking the preservation option seriously, and for working to make it affordable, accessible, and well-regulated.
A world with the science and technology to revive preserved individuals is likely to be a world with greater abilities, freedoms, and resources than our own. We do not assume such a future will be utopian or guaranteed — only that preserving the option is a reasonable, hopeful choice in the face of irreversible loss. Expanding access to high-quality preservation may also, in itself, encourage a more long-term, future-oriented outlook in the present.
Validating that preservation has value for human use is an ongoing scientific process. Many neuroscientists would agree that preserving the connectome may be necessary but not, on its own, sufficient to preserve memory and identity; aspects of the synaptome and epigenome may matter too. These are open questions that our affiliated community at Aspirational Neuroscience exists to help answer.