The Three Camps of Brain Preservation: Reanimators, Uploaders, and Uncertains

Would you like to live again after death? If so, are you a Reanimator, an Uploader, or an Uncertain? Take the Transporter Test and See.

A backgrounder on brain preservation options, preferences, and policy. (Note: John has periodically edited and updated this article since 2016.)

John M. Smart, Michael Cerullo, M.D., and Keith Wiley, Ph.D.

Robonaut vs Astronaut (NASA 2015)

• Would you believe me if I told you that within fifty years, the vast majority of us will live in societies where death is no longer the end of our individual lives, if we don’t want it to be?
• Would you believe that within the next two generations, if we continue to work hard on the right problems, anyone who wants to, almost everywhere in the world, should be able to ask their health care workers to carefully preserve their biological brain after they die, so that they and their friends and loved ones can come back together to later life?
• Would you believe that option will one day be covered by public health care in most societies, making it free to anyone who might want it?

You probably wouldn’t believe any of these claims today, unless you’ve been exposed to the rapidly advancing sciences, technologies, laws, and philosophies of identity that argue brain preservation may soon be an inexpensive and validated option for living on, and returning to life, along with ones friends and family, in a more technologically advanced world.

Death is a deeply personal loss. Human beings are the most physically and informationally complex entities on Earth. The death of anyone we love, with their unique personality, memories, goals, and wisdom, either individually or in any number, is thus the most informationally destructive event that we each must experience in life. We all face this traumatic event as best we can. Choosing brain preservation at the end of life will never be for everyone. But we believe people deserve to have as many good options for facing death as science and society can offer.

Brain preservation is one such option, one that offers a realistic possibility of living again in an advanced…