Prevent brain cell death to achieve immortality or near immortality?

[Johndough_]

I'm not exactly sure where to post this, but I've been wondering since brain cells don't really multiply. Still, they die as you age. If we were able to figure out a way to prevent them from dying off, would it result in a semi-immortal state where you're able to keep your consciousness as you age rather than being susceptible to total brain death as you get older?

 

[berkeman]

You would probably need to figure out a way to keep other body cells alive in perpetuity, right? What reading have you been doing into the regeneration of other cells in the body?

 

[BillTre]

1) There are some dividing neuroblasts (cells that make more neurons) in at least some adult vertebrates. These have been shown to be able to replace some adult neurons, like some olfactory (smell) system neurons and some hippocampal neurons (involved in learning and location). These maybe the only ones.
If new stem cell technology can make different kinds of neuroblasts, more kinds of neurons might be replaceable.

2) If you made one's neurons immortal (but constrained to be metabolically supported in a mortal body) as Berkeman said. Ultimately the body would breakdown and the brain would die. Then it might be possible to support the body with some fancy equipment, but even then, the brain made of many non-neuronal cells, will eventually have problems (like a cancer). Nothing is going to last for ever.

Evolution's answer to the limits on individual persistence is to make copies by reproducing. This makes copies of the maternal system that are very similar functionally to their mother. Close functional replacement is about as good as you can do.

 

[Dr-Flay]

The question is "Why would you want to ?"
Immortality means no more evolving.
Evolution only exists because of the iterative fractal life of biology.
End the iterations and end the progress so you remain where you are while other life forms race past you.
Where is the line in the sand where you think you have peaked so no longer need to evolve ?

 

[.Scott]

I'm not exactly sure where to post this, but I've been wondering since brain cells don't really multiply. Still, they die as you age. If we were able to figure out a way to prevent them from dying off, would it result in a semi-immortal state where you're able to keep your consciousness as you age rather than being susceptible to total brain death as you get older?

There a silent assumption here - that you would need your biological brain to remain the person who you are.
Von Neumann computers (what most of us are using daily) include nothing that could support hard consciousness. But if you want a durable consciousness engine, one that can go millennia, the technology for manufacturing one from scratch and then downloading you to it may very well be easier to develop that the technology for keeping you bio version running that long.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

This was a facinating StarTalk podcast with the brilliant Venki Ramakrishnan (Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry)